After a 10-day layoff, Lourdes returned to the diamond on Tuesday afternoon, dropping both ends of a doubleheader with Thomas More at Thomas More Softball Field in Crestview Hills, Ky.  The Gray Wolves dropped the opener 3-2 before losing 7-6 in game two.
 
"We played two really competitive games, but we just didn't come out on the winning side," head coach Caitlin Blanchard said afterwards.  "They got the big hit when they needed it, and we didn't.  I'm proud of how we competed, we just need to figure out how to finish the close games."
 
Thomas More took the lead in the opening inning of game one only to see the Gray Wolves answer with an unearned run in the second.  With two outs, Maddy Bartos (Sylvania, Ohio/Northview H.S.) singled home Emily Wallace (Thornville, Ohio/Lakewood H.S.).
 
The game would remain tied until the fifth when the Saints took advantage of a two-out error as Delaney Kemper then hit a two-run home run.  The Gray Wolves tried to rally in the seventh.  With one out, Bartos singled and Annalisse Palma (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview H.S.) doubled.  Megan Richardson (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) delivered a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one but Lourdes would strand the tying run at third.
 
Bartos and Olivia Hickman (Trenton, Mich./Trenton H.S.) each had two of the team's seven hits.
 
Berlynn Keller (Ottawa Lake, Mich./Whiteford H.S.) went the distance in the circle, allowing just one earned run while scattering eight hits.
 
In game two, Lourdes struck early as Palma led off the game with a walk and scored on a double by Maddie Darrah (Holland, Ohio/Springfield H.S.).  Thomas More took the lead in the third, scoring three times before Brooke Albert's (Edgewood, Ky./Dixie Heights H.S.) home run with one out in the fourth made it a 3-2 Saints lead.
 
Thomas More (14-6) increased its lead to 5-2 in the fourth before the Gray Wolves battled back to tie the game in the fifth.  Mallori Bradley (Zanesville, Ohio/Maysville H.S.) doubled and scored on a single by Richardson.  After Darrah followed with a base hit, Olivia Hickman (Trenton, Mich./Trenton H.S.) tied the game with a two-run double.
 
The game remained tied 5-5 until the bottom of the seventh when Kemper led off the inning with her second home run of the game to end the contest.
 
Lourdes (5-11) continues its road trip on Thursday afternoon as the Gray Wolves travel to Joliet, Ill. to face Saint Francis (Ill.).  First pitch in game one of the doubleheader is set for 3:30 p.m. EDT at Harlow Lockwood Field.