Lourdes improved to 4-0 for the first time in program history on Friday afternoon as the Gray Wolves swept a doubleheader from Huntington 2-1 and 7-1 inside Total Sports in Rossford.
 
"Today was fun," head coach Caitlin Blanchard said afterwards.  "The energy and focus was there, and we played quality softball all day long.  The pitchers really set the tone.  Kirsten Smith and Berlynn Keller both did a great job of using their arsenal and Taylor Leggins was clutch coming in relief to finish off both games."
 
Lourdes took the lead in the second inning of game one as Emily Wallace (Thornville, Ohio/Lakewood H.S.) drew a one-out walk and scored one batter later on a triple to right-center by Jaylen Jackson (Newark, Ohio/Newark H.S.).  Olivia Hickman (Trenton, Mich./Trenton H.S.) delivered what proved to be a key insurance run one inning later with a two-out single that plated Megan Richardson (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.).
 
Kirsten Smith (Marysville, Mich./Marysville H.S.) took control in the circle, working 6.1 innings to earn the win (2-0), keeping the Foresters off the scoreboard until the seventh.  Smith struck out six while walking just two and scattered seven hits.
 
Huntington scored in the top of the seventh to pull within one and had runners and second and third with one out when Taylor Leggins (Parma, Ohio/Normandy H.S.) came on in relief to induce back-to-back popouts to earn her first collegiate save.
 
"Our defense really kept us in it until the hot bats of Liv and Jaylen were able to get us the RBIs that we needed to get the win in game one," Blanchard added.  "Everyone's bats came alive in game two and we had production up and down the lineup."
 
After Huntington (0-2) threatened but failed to score after putting runners on second and third to open the game with none out, Lourdes bats came alive in the bottom half of the inning.  Three straight singles, the third by Hickman, drove home the game's first run and Wallace followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0 after one.
 
Richardson added a sacrifice fly before Hickman followed with a RBI double in the second as the Gray Wolves doubled their advantage.  Lindsey McGann (Sterling Heights, Mich./Stevenson H.S.)'s first collegiate hit was a run-scoring single in the third to increase the lead to five before Jackson made it 6-0 Lourdes with a run-scoring single in the fourth.
 
Hickman's fourth hit of the game drove in Rachel Mease (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville H.S.) in the sixth inning to close out the Lourdes scoring.  Mease had three hits in the contest and scored three runs.
 
The Foresters plated a run in the top of the seventh but stranded the bases loaded as Leggins came on in relief of Berlynn Keller (Ottawa Lake, Mich./Whiteford H.S.) and closed the game with a popout.  Keller went 6.2 innings for her first win (1-0) of the season, striking out four while allowing six hits and four walks.
 
The Gray Wolves banged out 14 hits in the nightcap, with Wallace also having a two-hit game in addition to Hickman's and Mease's multi-hit efforts.
 
"We're off to a solid start and I look forward to seeing what this team can do as the season progresses," Blanchard concluded.
 
Lourdes (4-0) will return to the diamond next Saturday, Feb. 24, as the Gray Wolves travel to Marion, Ind. to battle 14^th-ranked Indiana Wesleyan.  The first pitch of the doubleheader is set for noon at Sue Bowman Field.