DAVENPORT, Iowa – The College of Saint Mary softball team opened the 2024 season Saturday with one win and one loss.

Playing at the St. Ambrose University Dome, the Flames lost the season opener 6-0 to St. Ambrose and then defeated Culver-Stockton College 6-5 in the second game.

"It was good to get our first games under our belts today," CSM Coach Carolyn Todd Bray said. "We had a lot of new players that were getting their first collegiate experience. Because of that, I felt like we were really timid in areas of our game in the opener. But I'm proud of the ladies for how they bounced back and got the win in the second game."

The Flames had just three hits vs. the Fighting Bees. Savannah Schewe had two of them and Megan Garcia had the third.

Freshman Shaylynn Campbell was tagged with the loss. She pitched the first four innings, allowing six hits, walking four and striking out four. Teammate Daisy Lowther came on in relief and pitched the final two frames. She gave up three hits, walked one and fanned one.

"We were hesitant on our bunt coverage and fielding priorities and we were hesitant swinging at the plate," Bray said. "It's hard to beat good teams when you're playing like that.

"But we did have a great first and third play with Lindsay Ohnoutka and saw some good things happening."

The Flames came out more aggressive in the second game and scored three runs in the first inning. Ella Watts opened the game with a single and Garcia followed with a bunt single. Paige Stuck drew a walk and Schewe singled to center field to score both Watts and Garcia. Stuck advanced on the play and scored on a ground out from Sydney Griffin.

CSM added three more runs in the fifth when Watts walked, Garcia put down a sac bunt, Stuck doubled to score Watts, Daisy Lowther singled to score Stuck, Griffin singled, Macy Santoni walked and Cassie Wiseman singled to score Lowther.

The Flames tallied 10 hits and played errorless defense. Lowther and Wiseman both finished with two hits each, while Watts, Garcia, Stuck, Schewe, Griffin and Kayla Reed had one hit a piece.

Garcia started on the mound and went four innings. She surrendered six hits, walked one and fanned one. Campbell tossed the final three innings. She gave up five hits and walked one.

"We had so many positives that game," Bray said. "We had double plays in both the first inning and the seventh inning, Megan made a great diving catch, Macy had a clutch throw to the plate and Cassie had two big hits. I also thought both Megan and Shay pitched well and Sidney had a tremendous game behind the plate.

"The only real negative that game was that I was probably too aggressive on the bases as I'm still trying to learn about our baserunners."

The Flames return to action Sunday with an 8:30 a.m. game vs. Cornerstone University and a 1 p.m. contest against Viterbo University.

"Our team definitely got better today and I'm excited for us to get some more great game experiences tomorrow," Bray said. "We told the ladies that we aren't expecting to be playing our best softball on the first day of the year. We want to learn from our mistakes and keep getting better every day. We have bigger goals to accomplish this season."