FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

TUCSON, Ariz. (Mar. 20, 2012)-- With seven of the 10 spring break games in the books, the North Central College softball team sits with a 3-4 record after five days at the Tucson Invitational Games.

The Cardinals (3-4) opened the season on Thursday, dropping a 9-1 decision to Gustavus Adolphus College (Minn.) as the Gusties capitalized on four North Central errors to earn the five-inning mercy-rule win. (Box Score)

On Friday, the Cardinals fell into an early hole against Denison University (Ohio), trailing 6-0 after 2 1/2 innings before ultimately falling 7-5 before rebounding later in the day with a 6-3 victory over Marian University (Wis.) as the North Central offense cranked out 11 hits against the Sabres. (Denison Box Score)(Marian Box Score)

Four runs in the fifth inning helped the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse come away with a 9-2 victory to open Saturday before the Cardinals suffered a 2-1 setback to Augsburg College (Minn.). All three runs in the game were tallied in the opening two innings as mustered just one run while stranding six on base during the contest. (UWL Box Score)(Augsburg Box Score)

After an off day the Cardinals were back on the diamond on Monday steamrolling Calvin College (Mich.) and Carleton College (Minn.) by identical 9-1 scores. Against Calvin, North Central piled on five runs in the third inning in the mercy rule shortened game as Taylor Ryan finished three-for-four at the plate. Against Carleton, the Cardinals scored in threes, tallying a trio of runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings for the mercy-rule victory. (Calvin Box Score)(Carleton Box Score)

Vlasta Mangia (3-2) leads the pitching staff, having logged 29 2/3 of the team's 43 2/3 inning's played, fanning 25 batters and yielding just five walks with an earned run average of 2.12. Offensively, Carly Trenhaile paces the squad, hitting .476 on the year with five RBIs and three extra base hits while Mary Caron is hitting at a .474 clip.

The Cardinals take on Calvin at 9 a.m. on Tuesday before closing out the trip on Wednesday with games against Whitworth University (Wash.) and Augsburg.