BANNOCKBURN, Ill. --- With one week remaining in the 2021 regular season, the TIU softball team welcomed the Fighting Saints of St. Francis to campus on Tuesday afternoon for a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) doubleheader. Entering the day on a six-game losing streak, the Trojans looked to snap their recent skid and find momentum down the final stretch.

Alyssa Frey started game one for Trinity in the pitcher's circle, and showed fairly solid command after struggling in her last few starts. The Sheboygan, Wisconsin native would pitch all seven innings for TIU, striking out five and inducing nine groundouts. While both the Saints and Trojans combined for 12 hits in the opener, neither team broke through in a low scoring affair. USF would score a pair of runs in the first inning, followed by one in the third for an early 3-0 lead. 

The Trojans would fight to the end as Dana Percival led off the bottom of the seventh with a double and later scored on a Hailey Baker fielder's choice. Madison Lenzke would come to the plate as the potential winning run but came up short flying out to center field to end the game with a 3-1 loss.

Baker would start game two for the blue and white in a game that appeared like it would go down to the wire. After St. Francis took a 2-0 lead, Percival led off the fourth inning with a triple to center field before scoring on a wild pitch. In the fifth, Britney Knox would score Lauren Neveau on an RBI double to left center to tie the game at 2-2. Things would fall apart for Trinity in the top of the sixth as the Saints scored five runs with two outs in a late rally. USF would hang three more runs on the Trojans in the seventh en route to a 10-2 win over TIU and the doubleheader sweep.

ADDITIONAL GAME NOTES

• Trinity falls to 4-29 against St. Francis with their doubleheader loss on Tuesday. The two losses marked nine consecutive losses to the Fighting Saints.

• Alyssa Frey drops to 3-11 as a pitcher this season with the game one loss, her sixth straight losing decision.

• Frey's five strikeouts in game one gives her 85 on the season, the second most in a single-season in program history. Her career total of 111 are fifth most in the history of TIU softball.

• Dana Percival notched a double and triple for her two hits in the doubleheader.

• Her double in game one was her second of the season, and 30th of her career, while her game one triple was the the second of the season, and fourth of her career.

• Hailey Baker falls to 8-8 on the season in the pitcher's circle with the loss in game two, her fifth straight loss.

• Baker's complete game gives her 99 ⅓ total innings pitched this season, passing Heidi Carroll for ninth most in a season in school history.

• TIU committed a season-high five errors in their game two loss.

• Trinity hit three doubles in game two. Kristin Storer's was her fifth of the season, and 33rd of her career. Britney Knox notched her sixth of the year, and seventh as a Trojan. Heather Anderson recorded her fourth career double.

UP NEXT

The Trojans (11-19) return to the diamond tomorrow as they visit the Fighting Bees of Saint Ambrose in a doubleheader in Davenport. First pitch is scheduled for 4:00pm and can be watched LIVE on the SAU Sports Network.

Visit TIUtrojans.com to stay up to date with the latest TIU softball news and schedule updates.

Follow the Trojans online and on social media!

   Facebook - Trinity International Athletics

   Twitter - @SoftballTiu   @TIUTrojans

   Instagram - TIU Athletics    @tiusoftball

   Snapchat - @TIUtrojans

   YouTube - TIU Athletics

Trinity International University is a comprehensive, national university affiliated with the Evangelical Free Church of America and located in Bannockburn, Illinois, 25 miles north of Chicago. TIU educates men and women to engage in God's redemptive work in the world by cultivating academic excellence, Christian faithfulness and lifelong learning.