LACEY, Wash. – The Saint Martin's softball team (9-4) got off to a roaring start in their first four games at home, winning all four games, two against Simon Fraser (5-13) and two against Western Washington (8-8). The Saints took down the Red Leafs by scores of 5-4 and 9-6, while they defeated the Vikings by tallies of 4-3 and 7-3. The highlight in the SFU games was almost undoubtedly when Leverington finished off the game one win with an immaculate inning to ensure her save, while the WWU highlight came off of a walk-off win from freshman infielder Shelby Lawson.
 
Saint Martin's jumped out right in front in game number one and they used the long ball to do it. It was Kekai Schultz that started off her impressive week slamming a moonshot over the left center field fence to make it 2-0 scoring Britney Patrick who opened the game with a walk. SFU answered in the second with two and we were back to a deadlock. In the bottom half of the inning, it was Olivia Matlock who rock a shot over the left field fence in her first collegiate home at-bat as she pushed the Saints back in front. The Saints then tallied some insurance in each of the next two innings, first a Olivia Schmidt sac fly to score Destiny Conerly, then a Conerly RBI single that scored Patrick.
Things got interesting in the fifth however, when SFU chipped away at the lead getting two across and making it 5-4. With runners on first and second and no outs, Leverington came into the game with a tough task ahead of her to try and preserve the SMU lead. She did just that, getting a groundout and a fly out with no runs across and Saint Martin's stayed up 5-4. It was Leverington that stayed in the circle for the rest of the game, including a top of the seventh where she threw a convincing nine pitches, all for strikes, and three strikeouts, thus completing an immaculate inning en route to her save.
FINAL: Saint Martin's 5, Simon Fraser 4
 
A rain delay slowed the start of game two, but eventually the top of the first was restarted as the Red Leafs quickly put themselves up 2-0. The Saints responded in the second when Matlock scored on a wild pitch, plus Vanessa Smoke scoring on an error and Schultz ripping an RBI double. SMU gave themselves an even bigger cushion one inning later on a Destiny Salamanca RBI groundout, a Kayleigh Lugowski RBI knock, and huge Britney Patrick two RBI double.
A bases loaded walk and a bases clearing double in the fourth made things interesting again but Tia Ridings was able to come in and calm things down before handing the ball the Leverington for another save opportunity. Again, Leverington locked down Red Leafs, pitching the final two innings and allowing just two hits and striking out four. The final insurance runs were added in the fifth, on a sac fly from Patrick and a Schultz RBI single.
FINAL: Saint Martin's 9, Simon Fraser 6
 
The comeback was on in game one on Monday as the Saints found themselves in a hole early, but scraped their way out of it thanks to some clutch pitching and some crucial at-bats. After a Viking home run in the first and two more WWU runs in the third, it was 3-0 Western. The hole could have been much deeper though, with pitcher Abby Runyon somehow wriggling out of a bases loaded, no out jam in the second inning. Through her full seven innings, Runyon forced WWU to leave 10 total base runners stranded.
The Saints took advantage of an error in third to score Megan Convery and break the shutout. In the fifth, it was Matlock coming in in the clutch as the launched a single into right field that easily scored Patrick and Conerly. That made it a tie game and after Runyon locked down Western in the top of the seventh, it was the Saints chance to win in in the bottom.
Patrick got off to the right start with a leadoff walk before she got pushed to second thanks to a sac bunt fielding error by WWU. After a Schmidt sac bunt, Matlock walked to load the bases with one out. Lawson stepped up to the plate and after a few pitches, let one ride to the deep outfield down the left field line. It easily fell to the grass and rolled to the warning track while Patrick trotted home to score the winning run. It was the first walk-off hit of Lawson's collegiate career and the first walk-off of the season for SMU.
FINAL: Saint Martin's 4, Western Washington 3
 
Game two on Monday was a little more comfortable as the Saints leapt out to six straight runs to start the contest. First, Conerly scored Haley Agena on a single. Then, Schultz notched two RBIs with a double in the second and Conerly followed it up with a run-scoring single. In the fifth, Agena had an RBI fielder's choice and Schultz again doubled, this time scoring Agena. The Vikings tallied a few runs, but it was all in a losing effort as the Saints controlled from start to finish. Leverington pitched the final three innings to clinch her third save of the weekend
FINAL: Saint Martin's 7, Western Washington 3
 
All four of these games technically go down as non-conference games despite being against conference foes, so the Saints officially start against GNAC competition next weekend with a matchup versus Western Oregon University (8-13) at home in Lacey. First pitch on Saturday, March 11^th is scheduled for 12 PM at Saints Field.