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Lourdes opened the home portion of the 2017 season, as well as the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference schedule, on Wednesday afternoon at Pacesetter Park, dropping both games of a doubleheader to Lawrence Tech 5-4 and 8-5.  Game one went eight innings.
 
Lawrence Tech jumped in front early, taking advantage of a walk, a hit batter, and a wild pitch to plate the game's first run.  The Blue Devils remained in front 1-0 until the fifth when Kayla Encalado (Walbridge, Ohio/Lake H.S.) singled home Kelsey Beck (Paulding, Ohio/Paulding H.S.) and Taylor Genzman (Saint Clair Shores, Mich./Lakeview H.S.).
 
The Blue Devils tied the game in the sixth with a bases loaded, one-out single, but a line drive double play allowed the Gray Wolves to escape without further damage.
 
Marissa Kostick (Saint Charles, Mich./Saint Charles H.S.) singled home Beck with two outs in the sixth to again put Lourdes in front, but Lawrence Tech managed to tie the game in the seventh with a bases loaded sacrifice fly to force extra innings.
 
Mary Armstrong put Lawrence Tech in front by two in the top of the eighth with a home run to left-center before Lourdes tried to put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning.  Beck delivered her second extra base hit of the game, a triple, to plate Oliviah Banister (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon H.S.), but the Gray Wolves stranded the tying run on third.
 
Genzman went 3-for-4 in the opener with two doubles while Beck also had a multi-hit game as part of Lourdes' 10-hit attack against Alexa Cherney, who earned the complete game win (7-4) in the circle for the Blue Devils.  Cherney struck out 10 and walked just one.  Brooke Gallaher (Oregon, Ohio/Clay H.S.) suffered the loss (2-3), allowing seven hits and four earned runs while walking three over the eight innings.
 
"We hit the ball well in game one, but we weren't able to string hits together," head coach Jo Ann Gordon said.  "We left too many runners on base."
 
Lourdes took the lead first in game two.  Beck hit her first collegiate home run to lead off the third inning and Meghan Birr (Muskegon, Mich./Mona Shores H.S.) followed two pitches later with an inside-the-park home run, also her first of the season.  Taylor Tafelski (Perrysburg, Ohio/Perrysburg H.S.) added a run-scoring double with two outs in the innings, scoring Olivia Stanton (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland H.S.), who had reached via a walk.
 
Lawrence Tech (12-14, 2-0 WHAC) batted around in the fifth, sending 11 hitters to the plate while scoring eight times.  The Blue Devils took advantage of three walks and two errors, needing just three hits in the frame to cause the damage.  Alina Molette had the big hit, a bases loaded triple to put the guests in front.
 
The Gray Wolves tried to rally in the sixth, as Beck delivered her fourth hit of the day, a RBI single to score pinch runner Marche' Venable (Youngstown, Ohio/Cardinal Mooney H.S.).  A wild pitch followed which brought Erica Marvaso (Huron Township, Mich./Woodhaven H.S.) home, but Lourdes would strand two more runners in scoring position.
 
"We had one bad inning in that second game, and we just couldn't recover from it," Gordon added.
 
Beck, who reached base safely six times in the doubleheader, had the only multi-hit game for Lourdes in the nightcap, as the Gray Wolves tallied a total of seven hits.
 
Sydney Schultz earned the win (2-2) in relief for Lawrence Tech, tossing 2.2 innings in the circle, allowing two runs and one hit.  Kostick suffered the loss (0-3), allowing six runs, four of which were earned, and four hits in four innings of work.
 
Lourdes (4-12, 0-2) will remain home on Friday afternoon as the Gray Wolves welcome Cornerstone to Pacesetter Park.  First pitch in game one of the doubleheader is set for 5 p.m.