Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Tucson, Ariz. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team earned a pair of victories Friday in the Tucson Invitatonal Games, winning 2-1 over 20th-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) and 15-1 (5 innings) over Crown College (Minn.).  The Eagles improve to 8-3 on the season with their two wins.

Caitlyn Hughes and Katie Klein combined for the 2-1 victory over Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.), ranked 20th on this week's National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top-25 Poll.  Hughes (3-0) earned the win, going 5.2 innings, allowing three hits and one run with five strikeouts.  Klein picked up her fourth save of the year, pitching 1.1 innings with one strikeout.

The Golden Gusties took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Rachel Standmark scored on Nathalee Boissiere's RBI double.  The game remained 1-0 until the Eagles tallied twice in the bottom of the fourth.  Ashley Lindstrom was hit-by-pitch to start the inning and advanced to second on Megan Nelson's single.  Erin Maletzke came in as a pinch-runner for Lindstrom.  After a fly out for the first out of the inning, Hughes singled to load the bases.  After an Eagles' strikeout. Kerrigan Koch singled with two outs to knock in Maletzke and Nelson for a 2-1 lead.

Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) was held to one hit in the final three innings.

UWL finished with eight hits as Emily Holldorf went 2-for-4. 

Hannah Heacox (4-1) suffered the loss for Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.), pitching 6.0 innings, allowing eight hits, two runs and three walks while striking out four. Three different players had a hit for the Golden Gusties.

Versus Crown (Minn.), UWL took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a Emilie Witzius sacrifice bunt and Koch's RBI double.  Crown (Minn.) cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first as Janelle Williams scored on a Sofia Palacios single, but UWL tallied four runs in the top of the second to lead 6-1.  Katrina O'Keefe, Brittany Baldwin, Holldorf and Alecia Faber all had run-scoring hits for the Eagles.

UWL added six runs on seven hits in the top of the fourth on Faber's two-run single, Wiltzius' RBI single and Sydney Murphy's three-run double.  Sarah Mueller added an RBI double and Shelby Beckman a two-run double in the fifth to finish the scoring.

Jessie Carignan (3-1) picked up the win for UWL, pitching 3.0 innings, allwoing four hits, one run and one walk.  Heather Grelle went 2.0 innings, allowing one hit with two strikeouts.

The Eagles totaled a season-high 20 hits as seven players had at least two.  Baldwin went 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI while Holldorf, Faber, Koch, Murphy, Sydney Schemenauer and O'Keefe each finished with two hits. Faber and Murphy each had three RBI.

Sarah Petkau took the loss for Crown (Minn.), going 5.0 innings, allowing 20 hits, 15 runs (14 earned) and one walk with one strikeout.  Williams went 3-for-3 with a run scored.

UWL returns to action Saturday, March 19 facing George Fox University (Ore.) at 11 a.m. (Central) and Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) at 1 p.m. (Central).