Lourdes set a school record with its fifth consecutive victory on Friday, as the Gray Wolves defeated Hannibal-LaGrange 12-11 in nine innings and Saint Francis (Ind.) 7-3 at Sleepy Hollow in Leesburg, Fla.
 
After dropping the first five games of the season, Lourdes has returned to the .500 mark, and surpassed the previous school mark of four straight wins accomplished four times.
 
"We had a late start offensively, but we produced as the day went on," head coach Jo Ann Gordon said afterwards.  "We have consistently made improvement on defense and made better adjustments at the plate."
 
In the opener against Hannibal-LaGrange, the Gray Wolves trailing 3-0 after two.  Lourdes plated six runs in the third, sending 12 batters to the plate.  The Gray Wolves took advantage of four walks, a hit batter, and an error in the inning to score four unearned runs.
 
Marissa Kostick (Saint Charles, Mich./Saint Charles H.S.) homered in the fourth to push the lead to four, but the Trojans responded with five in the bottom of the frame.
 
Hannibal-LaGrange (1-10) led 8-7 heading into the seventh when Sydnee Behlmer (Northwood, Ohio/Lake H.S.) was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and Megan Motte (New Baltimore, Mich./Anchor Bay H.S.) followed with a single.  After a walk to Paige Churchfield (Saginaw, Mich./Swan Valley H.S.), Kim Waters (Belleville, Mich./Lincoln H.S.) tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
 
With the international tie-breaker in effect in extra innings, Shylee Schmeltz (Northwood, Ohio/Genoa H.S.) was placed on second in the eighth.  Kostick delievered a run-scoring single to put Lourdes in front and Jimi McNew (Monroe, Mich./Monroe H.S.) added a squeeze bunt to push the lead to 10-8.
 
The Trojans tied the game in the eighth, but stranded the would-be winning run at third.  Motte put Lourdes in front for good in the ninth with a single and Waters added another RBI with her first collegiate hit.
 
Hannibal-LaGrange scored once in the ninth, but Samantha Shirling (Pemberville, Ohio/Eastwood H.S.) ended the game inducing a groundout to earn the win (2-3).  She did not allow an earned run in 5.1 innings of relief.
 
Kostick put Lourdes in front in the opening inning of game two against Saint Francis with her second home run of the day.  The Gray Wolves tacked on two more runs in the hsecond to build a 4-0 lead.
 
The Cougars pulled within one, 4-3, with a run in the third and two in the fifth before Taylor Genzman (Saint Clair Shores, Mich./Lakeview H.S.) led off the bottom of the fifth with a double and scored two batters later when Kostick reached on an error.
 
Lourdes added two more runs in the sixth, one on a RBI single by Genzman and another on a wild pitch for insurance.
 
Kostick went the distance in the circle for the win (2-0), giving up six hits while striking out six. 
 
Lourdes (5-5) closes out play in the Sunshine State on Saturday, facing Indiana-South Bend at 1:30 p.m. and fourth-ranked Marian at 3:30 p.m. at Hancock Park in Clermont, Fla.