CHICAGO - No. 23-ranked Saint Xavier fired a pair of shutouts and limited University of St. Francis to just 5 hits over two games as the Cougars swept a pair of Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference softball games from the Saints Tuesday afternoon. SXU won the opener, 8-0, in six innings and then nipped USF 1-0 in eight innings in the nightcap.

Despite collecting only three singles in the first game and just a pair of singles in the second contest, USF (8-15, 2-4) still squandered several scoring chances and hit the ball hard on numerous occasions. SXU (21-7, 10-0) backed up its outstanding pitching with nearly flawless defense and made just one harmless error in the two games.

The first game was close through three innings with the host Cougars grabbing a 1-0 lead on an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning. SXU then knocked out USF sophomore starting pitcher Jackie Frey (Plainfield South H.S./Plainfield, IL) with a 3-run fourth inning that was keyed by three singles, a sacrifice fly and a 2-run double. The Cougars then scored four more times in the sixth to end the game early on the 8-run rule.

USF got just three hits in the opener, with two of them coming off the bat of sophomore third baseman Jenny Festin (Lockport H.S./Lockport, IL).

The Saints played much better in the second game and put runners on base in six of the eight frames despite collecting only two hits in the game.

USF got its leadoff batter on base in the first, second, fourth, seventh and eighth innings but only got that runner as far as third base twice and on both occasions there were two outs by the time the runner advanced to third.

The Saints stranded a total of four runners in the game, hit into one double play and had one runner caught attempting to steal. 

The USF hits were a game-starting single by senior center fielder Kendel Behrens (Morris H.S./Morris, IL) and a leadoff single by senior second baseman Beth Boezeman (Lincoln-Way East H.S./Frankfort, IL) in the fourth.

Saints junior pitcher Kim Malacina (Lockport H.S./Homer Glen, IL) went the entire 7.1 innings and allowed just 5 hits and the one earned run. Three of the five hits never left the infield and Malacina also recorded 5 strikeouts with only 3 walks.

USF travels to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, this Friday and Saturday to compete in the Iowa Wesleyan/Sammons Classic.