MACON, Ga. – Scoring early, the Saint Joseph's softball team finished off a successful opening weekend with a 4-2 win at the Mercer Bears to close out the Heart of Georgia Classic on Sunday.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Marla Freiwald had the best performance of her inaugural campaign in the circle, tossing five shutout innings, scattering four hits for her first career win
• Sierra Fretz went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBI.
• Kasi Loser also had a pair of hits, including a triple, and drove in a run.
• Meghan Sinkus had an RBI single.
• At 4-1, St. Joe's matches the 2019 team for its best five-game start to a season since 2013.

 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Hawks took advantage of an opening in the second inning as a strikeout and passed ball put a runner on first for Fretz who drove her first homer of the season to left for a 2-0 SJU lead.
• In the third, Loser singled and was replaced on first by Kayla Tauber on a fielder's choice. Following a walk to Hailey Malito, Sinkus delivered an RBI single to right, plating Tauber.
• Another run came across in the next inning as with two outs, Hailey Peterson walked in front of Loser who tripled down the leftfield line, scoring Peterson for a 4-0 Hawks' edge.
• Mercer scored a pair of runs early in the sixth, but Taylor Trowbridge came in to lock down the final 1.2 innings fir her first save of the season.

 
UP NEXT
Saint Joseph's does not play again until February 21 when it faces Radford in a doubleheader at the Liberty Softball Classic. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.