YANKTON, S.D. – It was a high-scoring affair and the College of Saint Mary softball team came out on the short end.

The Flames lost a doubleheader to Mount Marty University Monday. The Lancers won the opener 12-2 in five innings and then beat CSM 14-9 in the nightcap of the Great Plains Athletic Conference contests.

"There were a lot of runs scored, a lot of hits and a lot of home runs," CSM Coach Carolyn Todd Bray said. "Unfortunately, we battled but lost both games."

The Flames were outhit 13-3 in the first game as CSM got a double from Daisy Lowther and singles from Lowther and Megan Garcia.

The Lancers tallied 13 hits and also took advantage of three errors from the Flames. Garcia pitched the complete game.

"We kept having these innings where we had two outs and then a mistake kept us from getting out of it," Bray said. "It was frustrating. Megan was really working hard out there but we weren't making plays behind her."

The Flames played better defense in the second game and also got more production from the offense.

CSM rallied for 12 hits in the nightcap. Macy Homes and Savannah Schewe both crushed home runs and Izzy Monzon belted a double. Garcia and Homes finished with three hits each, while Schewe also added another hit and teammates Mack Madrigal, Kaela Persico and Lowther all chipped in with one hit each.

But the Lancers also hit well – finishing with 16 hits in the game.

Lowther started the game and went 4 1/3 innings. She struck out two and didn't walk any. Kymber Shallenberger came on in relief and tossed 2/3 innings, walking two and taking the loss. Mickayla Larsen pitched the final inning and fanned one while walking two.

"Both teams used a handful of pitchers and I just felt like Mount Marty did a better job making adjustments at the plate," Bray said. "We did some really good things today, but so did Mount Marty."

Bray said the play of the day was a diving catch from Persico on a very short bunt where she then popped up and doubled off the runner at first with a throw to Garcia.

"We have times when we look so good out there," Bray said. "And we've made improvements from the beginning of the year. But when we play against good teams they'll take advantage of defensive miscues and missed pitches.

"We're going to keep battling and keep trying to play our best softball."

The Flames are now 2-12 in the GPAC and 5-31 overall. The road doesn't get easier for CSM as the Flames face the top team in the conference Friday when Northwestern College comes to town.