The Falcon softball team opened its season sweeping Gustavus Adolphus at the Rochester Dome on Sunday.
The Falcons won a slugfest, 18-5, in the first game and came back with a tight 1-0 win in game two.
River Falls 18, Gustavus Adolphuhs 5
The Falcons started the season banging out 16 hits including four homers and three doubles in the 18-5 win. UWRF scored twice in the second and four times in the third and fourth innings before exploding for eight in the sixth.
Sophomore Shawna Middleton (Hastings, MN, Hastings) led the attack going 5-5 at the plate with five runs scored and five RBI. She hit two homers and both coming in the sixth inning when the Falcons scored eight runs. She hit a solo homer and later hit a two-run shot.
Dana Book (Brooklyn Center, MN, Champlin Park) also had a hot bat. She was 3-5 with two runs scored and four RBI. She hit a two-run homer in the second and followed Middleton's homer in the sixth with a solo shot.
Hayley Buchanan (Eden Prairie, MN, Eden Prairie) was 2-5 with two runs scored. Ashley Goettl (North Mankato, MN, West), Jamie Klein (Elk River, MN, Elk River)and Haley Selkirk (Northfield, MN, Northfield) all doubles in the game.
Rose Tusa (Roseville, MN, St. Anthony Village) picked up the win on the mound. She pitched four innings and allowed four runs and three were earned. She struck out seven and walked one. Nikki Osmonson (Otsego, MN, Rogers) worked two innings and allowed two hits. She allowed one unearned run. She walked two.
River Falls 1, Gustavus Adolphus 0
Book hit a solo homer in the fourth inning and that's all the runs pitcher Jamie Klein needed in the win.
Book hit her third homer of the day to center field to give the Falcons a lead. The only other hit for the Falcons was a double by Buchanan in the sixth.
Klein was masterful on the mound scattering four singles. She struck out seven and walked just one. The junior allowed just two runners to reach second base.
The Falcons will next play Buena Vista in the Rosemount Dome on Saturday. Game time is 4 p.m.
