AURORA, IL - The Benedictine University softball team opened play in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament with a heartbreaking loss to Rockford University at Aurora.

FINAL SCORE
Rockford 10, Benedictine 9 - 10 Innings

THE DETAILS
- Benedictine built a big early lead after both teams scored in the first
- The Benedictine run in the first inning came on a solo homer from Taylor Skraba, building on her conference and school record
- Counting the homer from Skraba, Benedictine scored seven in a row to build a 7-1 lead
- Neena Franklin and Becky Roncone recorded RBI singles in the second to put Benedictine ahead for the first time
- An error led to a run in the third while Megan Fast and Ashley Fisher drove home runs in the fourth
- Roncone added another RBI single in the in the fifth
- Rockford came back to tie the game, hitting two homers in the sixth and a three-run blast in the seventh
- Neither team scored in extra innings until the 10th when Rockford scored three times
- Benedictine was able to score twice in the bottom of the 10th on another homer before stranding the tying run in scoring position
- Skraba recorded a two-run double to score Asia Robinette and Faith Chada

STAT LEADERS
- Benedictine finished with 13 hits in the contest
- Colleen Schmit and Franklin both finished with three hits
- Skraba knocked in three runs and Roncone plated two
- Alexandra Loizon worked 8.2 innings and struck out nine

UP NEXT
Benedictine (29-12) will play Dominican in the first game on Friday at 1:00 p.m. in an elimination game.