ROSEMONT, Ill. – Lewis' softball team split a pair of games on Thursday at the Lewis Softball Dome Invitational at The Dome at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont, Ill. The Flyers dropped a slugfest to Saginaw Valley 10-9 in the opener before bouncing back to defeat Hillsdale 6-5 in the second game.

Cierra Taylor (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) had six hits in the two games while Katie David (Mapleton, Ill./Illini Bluffs) added four and Kristin Kavalauskas (Oak Forest, Ill./Tinley Park) and Elexis Swartzentruber (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) added three hits apiece. Swartzentruber and Amy Bukovsky (Aurora, Ill./Montini Catholic) drove in three runs each.

Game 1 – Saginaw Valley 10 Lewis 9
The Cardinals (1-0) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead stringing together three straight singles with one out in the top first. Lewis (3-3) responded in its first at-bat of the contest sending nine batters to the plate and scored five runs on three hits. David had the big hit in the inning as she drove in two runs with a triple to left center.

SV came right back in the second scoring three runs on five hits and an error to cut the Flyer lead to 5-4.

Lewis got one of those runs back in its half of the second as Taylor led off the inning with a triple to right center and scored on David's single up the middle.

The Cardinals scored four runs on six hits in the fifth inning to retake the lead at 8-6. They added single tallies in the sixth and seventh to extend their lead to 10-6.

The Flyers wouldn't go quietly though as they scored three times in the bottom of the seventh and had the winning run on base. David singled to lead off the inning and scored on Swartzentruber's home run to left center. After the next two batters were retired Olivia Magaldi (Mishawka, Ind./Penn) started another rally with a double to left center and came into score on Bukovsky's single to center. Taylor followed with another hit to put the tying run at second and the winning run on first but a pop out to first ended the game.

Taylor led the offense going 4-for-5 with two runs scored while David was 3-for-3 with three RBI and Swartzentruber was 2-for-3 with two RBI. David pitched the final five innings in relief of Braylyn Burdick (Boonville, Ind./Boonville) allowing six runs, five earned, on nine hits with four strikeouts to take the loss and fall to 2-2 on the season.

Game 2 – Lewis 6 Hillsdale 5
Lewis fell behind 5-0 after an inning and a half before rallying with four in the second and two in the third to take the lead.

The Flyers scored all four of their runs in the second after two were out as they had three hits in the frame and took advantage of a throwing error. Morgan Weber (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) drove home Jessica Lofthouse (Oswego, Ill./Oswego) with the first run of the game and then later in the inning Taylor doubled to center to drive in Bukovsky and Sara Serena (Kankakee, Ill./Kankakee) singled to bring home Taylor.

Lewis manufactured its two runs in the third. Swartzentruber led off with a single and Lofthouse followed with a single down the right field line. Lofthouse advanced to second on a groundout by Magaldi and then Bukovsky drove in both runs with a single to right center.

Hillsdale (1-2) threatened in three of the next four innings leaving five runners on base in that span. The Chargers had the tying run on base with no one out in the seventh, but Serena was able to retire the next three hitters to secure the win.

The Flyers had nine hits in the nightcap and were led by Taylor with two seven other players had a hit in the contest.

After giving up five runs on six hits in the first two innings, Serena settled down allowing just three hits over the final five innings to pick up her first win of the season. She struck out five and walked four in the contest.

Lewis returns to the diamond on Saturday taking on Findlay at 11 a.m. at The Dome at the Parkway Bank Sports Complex in Rosemont.