JOLIET, Ill. -- Junior Jackie Frey (Plainfield South H.S./Plainfield, IL) fired a complete game seven-hitter in just her second start since returning from a broken thumb on her pitching hand to lead University of St. Francis to a 4-3 win over No. 29 Indiana Tech and a split of a nonconference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at the Inwood Softball Complex. Indiana Tech won the nightcap, 12-4, in six innings.

Frey, who pitched just two-plus innings on Thursday in her first appearance, went the distance Sunday and snapped Indiana Tech's 18-game winning streak with her outstanding performance. Frey scattered seven hits and four walks and struck out one.

USF (14-14) led all the way in the opener and took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Both of those early runs scored on a two-out ground rule double by senior catcher C.J. Rupsis (Bolingbrook H.S./Bolingbrook, IL) that plated senior center fielder Kaylee Shell (Wilmington H.S./Wilmington, IL) who led off with a single and freshman designated player Lexi Southall (Wilmington H.S./Wilmington, IL) who reached on a one-out walk. 

IIT cut the margin to 2-1 with a tally in the third, but USF answered with a pair of fifth-inning runs that extended the lead to 4-1.

Shell and Southall got the rally started again with singles and each scored later, with Shell racing home on a one-out single by freshman right fielder Natalie Ward (Marian Catholic H.S./Crete, IL) and Southall coming in on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt by Rupsis. 

The Warriors (25-9) got a run in the sixth and one more in the seventh but left the potential tying run at third base in the final inning.

Shell's two hits led a seven-hit attack for the Saints. 

Indiana Tech jumped to a 7-0 lead in the nightcap and took advantage of eight walks and seven wild pitches to roll to the six-inning win over USF.

The Saints scored twice in the fourth inning on back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Southall and freshman catcher Lindsey Rohan (Benet Academy/Naperville, IL). USF added a run in the fifth when Shell scampered home on a wild pitch. The Saints got one more in the seventh when senior shortstop Lauren Panek (Lemont H.S./Lemont, IL) singled and scored on a triple by sophomore designated player Kaitlin Nolan (Wilmington H.S./Wilmington, IL). 

Nolan's two hits in the game led an eight-hit USF attack.

The Saints return to action on Tuesday for a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference home doubleheader with Saint Xavier University. That twin bill at the Inwood Softball Complex is slated to start at 3 p.m.