[Softball] SAU hits three home runs to earn split at No. 14 Saint Xavier

Allison Polly, Aleah Wight and Sophia Delgado each homered to power St. Ambrose past No. 14 Saint Xavier 9-6 in the second game of a doubleheader in Chicago Tuesday afternoon. The Bees dropped the opener 9-0.

Polly set the tone early, ripping a two-run blast to left-center to also score Olivia McClintock in the top of the first inning, to give SAU a fast 2-0 lead. It was a lead the Bees would never relinquish in handing the Cougars (27-2, 16-2 CCAC) just their second loss of the season.

Nursing a 2-1 lead in the third, Logan Frerichs drew a bases-loaded walk to score Wight, and Delgado followed with a single to plate Natalie Desmond to increase the lead to 4-1.

A Kayla Stenger double drove in Wight to push the margin to 5-1 in the fourth.

The Bees then turned to the long ball to seal the win.

Wight hit her two-run shot in the sixth to also bring in Jazzy Bowman for a 7-3 lead. Then in the seventh, Delgado added some insurance runs with a home run to left to score Kaitlyn Sandora for a 9-4 advantage.

St. Ambrose needed every one of those runs as Saint Xavier plated a pair and had the potential tying run at the plate in the seventh before Alyia Oliver closed out her own win.

Oliver worked the first four innings before turning things over to Jane Thomas in the fifth. When Thomas got in a bit of a jam in the seventh, Oliver returned to get the final three outs.

Stenger finished with three hits in the win, while Wight, Frerichs, Delgado and Bowman each had two as part of SAU's 14-hit attack.

The Bees were able to only scratch out three hits - from McClintock, Stenger and Alyssa Schumacher - in dropping the opener in five innings. Saint Xavier broke things open with a seven-run second inning. Erica Ralfs took the loss.

SAU, now 16-8 overall and 10-6 in the CCAC, will return home to host Trinity International Wednesday.