Lourdes opened up Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference opened up Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play on Wednesday afternoon, suffering 8-1 and 9-2 setbacks to the University of Michigan-Dearborn at Alumni Field in Ann Arbor, Mich.
 
Marissa Kostick (Saint Charles, Mich./Saint Charles H.S.) tried to jumpstart the Lourdes offense in the opening inning of game one. With two outs, she hit a laser down the leftfield line that ricocheted off the top of the foul pole for her third home run of the season.
 
The Wolverines answered in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of a two-out Gray Wolf error and a pair of walks to score three times.  Two more runs crossed the plate in the fourth, one of which was unearned, as Michigan-Dearborn opened up a 5-1 lead.
 
Lourdes threatened in the top of the fifth inning as Morghan Russell (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison H.S.) and Shylee Schmeltz (Gibsonburg, Ohio/Gibsonburg H.S.) registered back-to-back one-out singles, but were stranded on the base paths.
 
Michigan-Dearborn tacked on a sixth run in the bottom of the fifth and plated two more in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
 
Schmeltz finished with two hits for the Gray Wolves, the lone multi-hit effort for Lourdes in the opener.
 
Ashlynn Henderson earned the win (4-1) in the circle for the Wolverines, striking out six while allowing just one run on four hits.  Kostick suffered the loss (3-2) for Lourdes, yielding five runs, only one of which was earned, and four hits in four innings of work.
 
In game two, Michigan-Dearborn plated a run in the second and took advantage of three Lourdes errors to score three unearned runs in the third to build a 4-0 lead. 
 
The Gray Wolves tried to rally in the fourth, as Alexis Nowowiecki (Saint Clair Shores, Mich./Lakeview H.S.) singled up the middle to drive in Olivia Stanton (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland H.S.), who led off the inning with a hit.  Lourdes then had the bases loaded with no outs, but back-to-back fielder's choices and a flyout ended the threat without any more damage.
 
The Wolverines answered in the bottom of the fourth with two more runs, pushing the advantage to 6-1, and added another tally in the fifth.
 
Russell led off the sixth inning with a single for the Gray Wolves, and scored on a groundout by Schmeltz three batters later.
 
Again Michigan-Dearborn (12-6, 2-0 WHAC) responded with two more unearned runs in the bottom of the frame to conclude the scoring.
 
Stanton had the only multi-hit game for Lourdes in the nightcap as the Gray Wolves tallied just five safeties in the contest.
 
Samantha Torongeau earned the win (1-2) in relief for Michigan-Dearborn while Tiana Card (Brook Park, Ohio/Berea-Midpark H.S.) suffered the complete game loss (1-6) for the Gray Wolves, giving up just five earned runs as Lourdes committed six errors in the contest.
 
Lourdes (4-10, 0-2) remains on the road Saturday afternoon, traveling to Rochester Hills, Mich. to battle Rochester.  First pitch in game one of the doubleheader is set for 1 p.m. at Jaycee Field.