Twins Softball opened up their season to the College of St. Joseph Fighting Saints this past saturday and suffered two tough loses to the four-year college out of Rutland, Vermont. Game one started off with a unfortune injury to the Twins pitcher, Shannon McNeff, but the Twins continuted to battle on without their starting pitcher. The fight the Twins put up wasn't enough and the Fighting Saints took the win with a final score of 6 to 1.

 Game 1 Highlights:

 Jaime Staunch: 2 for 3 with 2 singles

 D'Arcy Bittner: 1 for 3 with a run scored

 Brooke Hapeman: had the only RBI with a sacrifice fly ball to drive in Bittner

Head Coach Peter Dedrick reported, "It was a very tough break for us when our starting pitcher Shannon McNeff had to leave after only 8 pitches due to taking a line drive off the shin. I thought our team responded well to the injury with all the defensive changes that had to be made on short notice.  D'Arcy and Jaime did a great job finishing up the game pitching and keeping us in the game."

Game two the Twins came out ready to take control with freshman D'arcy Bittner on the mound. After being behind, the Twins tied it up but the Fighting Saints bats put the ball into the gaps and took back the game to end it with a final score of 7 to 2.

Game 2 Highlights:

Elizabeth Gould: 2 for 3 with 2 singles

Brooke Hapeman: 2 for 2, 2 singles, 2 walks

D'Arcy Bittner: 1 for 3 with a run scored

Veronica Mayhew: had a big 2 RBI single in the 5th to tie the game at 2-2

Head Coach Peter Dedrick commented, "D'Arcy did a great job for us after finishing up game 1 and pitched all 7 innings of game 2."

Coach Dedrick was able to find good in the two loses and stated, "Overall I actually think we did some great things today. We had 2 or 3 bad innings in the day which at this level is all it takes for the opposing team to capitalize which CSJ did. We missed out on some big opportunities to put some runs up on the board but I'm confident in our lineup and that our bats will wake up. We had some mental breakdowns that can't happen at this level because it is something we have complete control over.  It's a long season and we know what we have to clean up. We just have to take one game at a time and keep working hard in practice."

Two former Twins Krysta Konderwich and Karlee Moore played for the Fighting Saints and had some big hits to drive in runs for them.

Coach Dedrick said, "It nice to see Karlee and Krysta doing so well at the fout-year college level. I just wish they didn't do so well against us. They were great girls to coach and I wish them and CSJ best of the luck the rest of the way."

Pictured Left: Krysta Konderwich. Pictured Right: Karlee Moore.