[Softball] SAU pushes winning streak to 15 with sweep of Lincoln

St. Ambrose extended its winning streak to 15 games, and improved to 4-0 in the CCAC, by sweeping a conference doubleheader from Lincoln College Saturday in the Ambrose Dome. The 7-1 and 5-0 victories pushed the Bees to 20-3 overall.

The winning streak is the program's longest since the 2013 team won 16 in a row.

The Bees rode three strong pitching performances to get within a game of that 16-game stretch.

In the opener, it was Erica Ralfs and Maria Provenzano. Ralfs allowed just three hits and an unearned run over 5 1/3 innings. She struck out seven before giving way to Provenzano, who did not allow a hit over the final 1 2/3 innings.

And as she has all season, Olivia McClintock set the offensive tone early. She drew a walk, stole second and eventually gave the Bees a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Aleah Wight's two-out triple. 

SAU took advantage of Lincoln pitching struggles in the third. Ralfs, Sophia Delgado and Kaitlyn Sandora each drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in a run for a 4-0 lead. Olivia Wells and Alyssa Schumacher had RBI hits in the fourth before Kayla Stenger's ground-rule double in the sixth plated Sandora to end the scoring.

Wight, Wells and Shai Erdrich each had two hits.

In the second game, Alyia Oliver tossed a three-hit shutout while striking out a pair.

And it was McClintock who would give the Bees the only run they would need in the bottom of the first. She singled, stole second and ultimately scored on a wild pitch. 

McClintock had a hand in the next two St. Ambrose runs. She came around to score on Stenger's RBI single in the third and beat out an infield hit in the fourth to plate Allison Polly. In the sixth, Delgado dropped down a bunt single to score Erdrich and Delgado later came in on a hit from Cassie Sprout for the Bees' fifth run.

McClintock finished 3-for-4 in Game 2 and Sprout had two hits.

St. Ambrose will hit the road to play Calumet St. Joseph next Wednesday.