DULUTH, Minn. - The Martin Luther College softball team opened conference play with a pair of losses at St. Scholastica by the scores of 6-4 and 7-2 on Sunday.

CSS 6, MLC 4

St. Scholastica opened the doubleheader with a 6-4 win in game one.

MLC jumped on top early with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning thanks to RBI singles from Brittany Denn and Samantha Schoch. The Saints would respond, however, tying the game with two runs in the third inning before taking the lead with three more in the fourth frame. 

After CSS pushed its lead to 6-2 in the fifth inning, Elena Hoffman cut the deficit in half with a two-run home run, but the MLC comeback was unable to get any closer. 

Morgan Palubicki (0-8) took the loss for MLC after allowing three runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings. 

Denn led the MLC bats with three hits in four at bats to go with one run scored and one RBI.

CSS 7, MLC 2

CSS completed the sweep with a 7-2 win in game two.

The Saints scored twice off MLC starting pitcher Rebecca Pruss (4-2) in the first inning and added another run in the second frame, but the Knights kept the game close thanks to RBI hits from Brett Burger and Denn. 

CSS wasn't finished, however, and scored two runs in the fourth inning, followed by two more in the sixth to put the game away.

Pruss took the loss after allowing five runs on nine hits in four innings. Denn, Schoch and Kelsey Birschbach each finished with two hits for MLC.

The Knights fell to 4-10 on the season and 0-2 in UMAC play following the two losses. CSS improved to 10-10 overall and 2-0 in league play folowing the sweep.

MLC will return to action on Wednesday, April 3, when it hosts North Central in the home opener. That doubleheader is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. The previously scheduled non-conference doubleheader against Bethany Lutheran on Monday, April 1, was moved to Monday, April 22.