ABERDEEN, S.D. – The College of Saint Mary softball team got its first win of the season Sunday.

The Flames split a doubleheader with Presentation College. CSM won the first game 9-8 and lost the second game 6-3.

"We're happy to get our first win," CSM Coach Carolyn Todd Bray said. "We battled and did a lot of good things today. We're making some progress in some areas. But we still have a lot of work to do."

Both teams entered the doubleheader in search of their first win. Both teams are now 1-5 on the season.

"We always seem to have some real battles with Presentation and today was no different," Bray said.

The Flames jumped ahead right out the gate and scored six runs in the top of the first inning. But the Saints made a pitching change and CSM was only able to get one more run in the third inning and two in the fifth. Presentation scored two in the first, two in the third, one in the fourth and three in the sixth.

Savannah Schewe (JR/Elkhorn, Neb.) led College of Saint Mary with three hits including a three-run homer in the first inning. Megan Garcia (SO/Elkhorn, Neb.) had two hits while teammates Kaela Persico (FR/Bellevue, Neb.), Daisy Lowther (FR/Bennington, Neb.), Mack Madrigal (SO/Omaha, Neb.), Sydney Griffin (SO/Lincoln, Neb.) and Kayla Reed (FR/Albuquerque, NM) all added one each.

The Flames finished with 10 hits and had two errors defensively.

Garcia earned the win in the circle. She surrendered nine hits, walked three and struck out six.

"Megan didn't have her best day but really battled and got the complete-game win," Bray said. "We got hits up and down the lineup and saw some positives in this game."

In the second game, the Flames got an early lead again and scored three runs in the top of the first. Paige Stuck (JR/Bellevue, Neb.) led off with a single and advanced on a sacrifice bunt and ground out. Schewe reached base on and error and Macy Homes (SR/Wahoo, Neb.) singled to left to score Stuck. After a walk to Persico, Garcia belted a double to score Homes and Schewe.

Unfortunately, those were the only three runs the Flames could plate.

Presentation scored one run in the first, one in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the six to get the win.

Both teams finished with seven hits and CSM had two errors.

Stuck finished with two hits while Lowther, Schewe, Homes, Garcia and Morgan Ethen (SR/Omaha, Neb.) all added one each. Garcia and Ethen's were doubles.

Lowther suffered the loss. She allowed seven hits walked two and fanned five.

"The difference in that game was that Presentation did a good job of making adjustments at the plate and we did not," Bray said. "I'm happy we got 17 hits today, but we started chasing pitches late in the second game. Our game plan for today was to be selective and attack when we did swing. Instead, we started chasing and weren't taking good swings."

The Flames are off until next weekend when they play in the Dordt Invitational.

"We have a lot of things to work on," Bray said. "But we said all along that with our youth and inexperience we were going to shuffle things around during these nine dome games. We're seeing some good things and need to continue to make improvements."