HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Softball team managed to win the third conference game of the series 9-0 against Northwest this morning, but would be unable to pick up the full series win, falling 9-10 in East Helena.

The Fighting Saints (9-14, 5-7) posted nine runs in back-to-back games on Sunday, but were only able to walk away with one win over Northwest (15-12, 7-7) in a sunny Sunday doubleheader.

Sunday morning's game was a quick-moving affair, with little action until the third inning. In stark contrast to the lack of offense in the early game on Saturday, Carroll's bats made a big appearance on Sunday morning.

Some small ball got the pieces into place to start the bottom of the third inning, and Amber Brewer (Phoenix, Ariz. / SR) managed to knock in one run on to open the scoring. A walk would load the bases for Alyssa Lybbert (Las Vegas, Nev. / SO) and she made the most of her opportunity. Lybbert brought home all three runners on a double to the left field fence, giving Carroll a 4-0 lead. After another walk, Haley Kampka (Stevensville, Mont. / SR) broke the game wide-open with a towering three-run shot to put the Saints on top 7-0.

Carroll would get two additional runs in the fourth inning when Jessica Nimmo (Las Vegas, Nev. / SR) turned on pitch down the middle, blasting a two-run homer to extend the Carroll lead to 9-0. 

Kennedy Venner (Billings, Mont. / FR) backed up her impressive outing from Saturday, striking out eight batters and earning the complete game shutout in the 9-0, five inning, mercy-rule win.

The Carroll bats stayed hot to begin the afternoon tilt.

Alyssa Lybbert put the Saints on top early, knocking in Brewer on a single to make it 1-0 after one inning. Sydnee Paul (Florence, Mont. / JR) grew the Saints lead to 2-0, knocking in Whitney Durocher (Choteau, Mont. / SR), who started the inning with a double. Paul's single loaded the bases with no outs, and set the stage for another big Carroll inning. Amber Brewer took Bella King deep to left field, and her grand slam put Carroll ahead 6-0 after two.

Northwest would not go down easy, however, getting five runs back in the third inning, kick-started with a two-run home run from Kayla Stanley.

The Eagles would go on to take the lead in the fourth inning on a pair of costly throwing errors. Madisyn Leffle bunted, and managed to round all four bases after the Saints threw the ball all over the field. Northwest would add one additional run and go up 8-6.

A wild pitch in the bottom of the fourth would lead to Carroll getting one run back.

Northwest's Sydney Maurer would hit what appeared to be a dagger of a home run in the sixth inning. Her two-run blast would put the Eagles ahead 10-7.

Down to their final three outs, the Saints would begin to chip away. Another Durocher double brought home one run, cutting the lead to 10-8. Sydnee Paul knocked in one additional run to narrow the gap to just one run, with one out remaining, but Carroll would not be able to complete the comeback.

The teams combined for 22 hits in 64 plate appearances (Carroll -12, Northwest 10). Brewer finished the afternoon game 2-4 with 4 RBI, and two runs scored to lead the Saints.

A trip to Missoula tomorrow afternoon for a doubleheader with NCAA Division I Montana is on deck for the Saints at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Visit www.carrollathletics.com tomorrow for a preview of that matchup, and to stay up to date with everything going on in Carroll Athletics.