Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Winona, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse softball team earned a doubleheader sweep at Saint Mary's University (Minn.) Tuesday afternoon at Saint Mary's Field.  The Eagles won the opener, 3-0, and the nightcap, 11-3 in six innings.  UWL, playing for the first time since March 18, improves to 9-9 on the season while Saint Mary's (Minn.) drops to 5-7. 

Caitlyn Hughes and Katie Klein combined on a three-hit shutout in the opener Tuesday. Hughes (4-5) earned the win for the Eagles, going 6.0 innings, allowing three hits and one walk while tying her career-high with nine strikeouts.  Klein picked up her first save of the season, pitching 1.0 inning, allowing two walks with two strikeouts.  It was Klein's 30th career save.  She set the NCAA Division III career record last season in UWL's 4-1 victory over UW-Oshkosh on April 17, 2017.  Klein set the NCAA III record with her 25th career save at the time, breaking the record of 24 held by Samantha Pratt (2009-12) of Keene State University (N.H.).  

Klein's 30 career saves ranks third in all of NCAA softball history.  Alex Lewis of NCAA Division II had 48 saves for the University of Alabama-Huntsville from 2008-11 while Kellie Wilkerson of Mississippi State holds the NCAA Division I record with 32 from 1999-2002.

UWL took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Mia Schmidtke singled with two outs and scored on Grace Mindrup's single.  The Eagles made it 2-0 in the third inning. Brittany Baldwin singled to start the inning and stole second. She moved to third on a fielding error of Sydney Murphy's at-bat and scored one out later on a Cardinals' wild pitch.  

Sarah Stewart singled to lead-off the top of the fourth inning and advanced to second on Sarah Mueller's sacrifice bunt.  Maddie Yont came in as a pinch-runner for Stewart and scored on Kerrigan Koch's one-out single. 

UWL finished with nine hits in the opener with Mindrup going 2-for-3. 

Saint Mary's (Minn.) totaled three hits in the game while Amber Trendle (3-1) took the loss for the Cardinals.  She pitched a complete-game, going 7.0 innings, allowing nine hits and three runs (two earned). 

The Eagles took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first in the nightcap with Sydney Murphy scoring on an error and Sabrina Scardamaglia's run-scoring single to knock in Schmidtke. 

The Cardinals came back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game on Kali Aldrich's two-run single. 

UWL took a 3-2 lead in the top of the second on Schmidtke's RBI double scoring Baldwin and Haley Radewan gave the Eagles a 4-2 lead in the top of the third inning on a run-scoring double knocking in Scardamaglia.  UWL tallied six runs on five hits and two errors in the top of the fourth highlighted by Schmidtke's three-run home run and Radewan's RBI single. 

Saint Mary's (Minn.) scored an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 10-3 and UWL's Grace Schwegel finished the scoring on a two-out RBI single to knock in Mallorie Segobiano in the top of the sixth.

Maddie Muelken (4-1) earned the win for UWL, pitching 4.0 innings, allowing four hits, two runs and one walk with one strikeout.  Sydne Shattuck went 2.0 innings, allowing one run (unearned) and one walk while striking out two. 

The Eagles totaled 15 hits in the game with Schmidtke finishing 3-for-4 with two runs, one home run and four RBI. Scardamaglia and Radewan each had two hits. 

Amber Chow (2-6) suffered the loss for Saint Mary's (Minn.), going 3.1 innings, allowing 11 hits and 10 runs (four earned). The Cardinals had four hits in the game.

UWL returns to action Wednesday, March 28 at the University of Dubuque (Iowa).  Game one of the doubleheader starts at 2:30 p.m.