TUCSON, Ariz. – The Drew University softball team split a pair of games on the opening day of the season on Saturday at the Tucson Invitational Games.
 
The Rangers lost 10-2 in six innings to Willamette University before blanking the University of Puget Sound 8-0 in five innings.
 
Against Puget Sound, junior Tyler Saunders twirled a one-hit shutout while senior Molly O'Brien went 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Sophomore Aurora Marino also drove in two runs.
 
Saunders allowed a one-out double in the top of the first but went on to retire the next eight batters. She then worked out of a jam in the fourth, stranding runners on the corners, and fired a three-up, three-down fifth.
 
It was a scoreless game entering the bottom of the fourth, when the Rangers exploded for seven runs on four hits and an error. Junior Delaney O'Donoghue and freshman Daylin Evans-Lascik each singled home a run while Marino and senior Francesca Laurito brought home additional runs with a bases-loaded walk and hit-by-pitch, respectively. O'Brien capped the outburst with a two-run single.
 
In the fifth, Marino drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, invoking the eight-run rule.
 
In their season opener, the Rangers fell behind early, as the Bearcats scored five in the bottom of the first. They went on to plate one in the third and two apiece in the fourth and fifth innings.
 
Junior Teagan Bradley slugged a solo homer in her first at-bat of the season for the Rangers while sophomore Josie Di Troia smacked a double. Bradley started in the circle and tossed five innings, striking out five.
 
The Rangers continue their spring break trip on Sunday, when they face Willamette again at 9 a.m. MST before taking on Mount Mary University at 11 a.m. MST.