ROSEMONT, Ill. — The Goshen College softball team opened its 2018 season last weekend with five games at the Dome at the Ballpark at Rosemont in suburban Chicago. Roosevelt University served as the host for the event, which took place indoors at the same complex that hosts the Chicago Bandits of the National Pro Fastpitch league.

Brianna Sherman paced Goshen with six hits over the weekend, including a double and a triple: Allison White (who had five hits) and McKinzi Vega each batted at least .500 in the event against Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference, Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference and independent institutions. Leah Herrman, who had GC's lone home run, led the team with six runs batted in.

Herrman handled the brunt of the team's pitching duties, tossing 12 1/3 of the 35 innings. Last season's innings leader, Alexis Carpenter, held opponents to a .333 average while Herrman's five strikeouts led the team: Brooke Maes's 3.15 earned-run average and 9.45 hits per seven innings were both Maple Leaf bests.

See below for summaries of each of GC's games; click the link in each bold heading to see final stats.

FRIDAY: Aquinas 7, Goshen 5 (box score)

The Maple Leafs started their season on a high note, retiring six of the first seven batters to come to the plate against senior pitcher Alexis Carpenter. GC scored four times on four hits in the bottom of the first: McKinzi Vega's RBI single formed the peak of four straight run-scoring at bats.

Aquinas took its first lead in the third behind a pair of doubles from Kallie Sears and Leigha Morse before Goshen re-tied matters two frames later. Vega and Brooke Maes each singled for the Maple Leafs, who got the equalizer on a misplay in right field.

The Saints tacked on another run in the sixth inning and an insurance tally in the seventh, taking advantage of one-out doubles in each frame. Rianna Koteles singled with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to bring Maes up as the tying run, but a groundout to third sealed the final score.

Vega and Allison White led Goshen with two hits apiece as the team reached double figures in hits. Courtney Crapser chipped in a double and Maes also reached twice on a hit and a walk.

FRIDAY: Judson 2, Goshen 1 (box score)

Neither team scored in the first five innings of game two, with both sides getting as many as five batters to the plate once in that span (Judson in the second and Goshen in the fourth). Herrman went the distance in the circle for the Leafs, allowing a single earned run and seven hits while striking out four in 6 2/3 innings.

Skye Osborne scored the Eagles' first run in the bottom of the sixth inning, singling in front of center fielder Candace Sutter before coming around to score on two errors. Herrman helped her own cause with a sacrifice fly to tie the score with another unearned run in the top of the seventh and recorded two straight groundouts to start the bottom of the inning.

Judson's Elizabeth Gagnon proved the hero: after Sydney Reid doubled down the left-field line, Gagnon singled to center for the walk-off win just after 9:30 p.m. CST.

Maes, Vega and Brianna Sherman all registered Maple Leaf hits with Maes smacking a double. Lindsay Zdroik struck out 12 in the complete-game win for Judson.

SATURDAY: Roosevelt 7, Goshen 3 (box score)

Host Roosevelt led 2-0 after an inning and 6-1 after two frames Saturday morning in posting its first win of the season despite Herrman's first homer of the season in the top of the second.

The Lakers put up two unearned tallies in the first, breaking through on a sacrifice fly before a pair of singles. The first four batters of the second inning all reached and came around to score before Koteles and Crapser combined to cut down the last out of the inning on the bases. RU's last run was also unearned after a third-inning error.

Goshen got two runs back in the last three innings: Sherman led off the fifth inning with a pinch-hit triple before Sutter scored in her stead on a wild pitch, while Allie Gordy added another three-bagger off the bench to drive in Herrman in the sixth.

Koteles led the Maple Leafs with two hits, including a double; four of GC's six hits went for extra bases. Maes finished the game with 4 1/3 innings of relief pitching, allowing two hits and an unearned run with a strikeout.

SATURDAY: Cleary 8, Goshen 7 (tentative box score)

A dozen-hit performance with a seven-run second inning came up short for Goshen on Saturday afternoon as Cleary scored six runs in its last two innings. The Cougars also scored the game's first two runs, getting an unearned run two batters in before a Jordan Schneider single doubled the edge.

Katherine Boyer bookended the top of the second with singles for the Maple Leafs. She scored the first run on a wild pitch and knocked in the last two as Maes and Rodriguez put GC up 7-2. In between, Goshen got two more hits (a Sherman double and a Maes single) along with three errors and a passed ball, the last of which tied the game. Rodriguez put her team up with a bases-loaded walk before Crapser came in on Maes' hit and Koteles scored on a Herrman groundout.

The teams would combine for eight hits over the next three innings, but couldn't muster any runs until five singles surrounding a sacrifice fly put Cleary in position for four runs in the fifth. GC got a one-out single in the sixth before a double play erased the scoring chance: the Cougars scored their last two runs in the bottom of the frame on a two-out single.

Goshen put the tying run on base twice in the seventh inning: Cassandra Espinoza started the threat, ending up on second base after a leadoff throwing error. She was retired a batter later, trying to move within 60 feet of tying the game on a fly ball to center field, but Allison White promptly returned a runner to the basepaths with a single to short. Another ball hit to the same spot produced a different outcome, however, as a 6-3 groundout ended the game.

SATURDAY: Madonna 7, Goshen 0 (box score)

Coming off a trip to the final game of its opening-round site at the 2017 NAIA tournament, Madonna scored in four separate innings to shut out the Maple Leafs in both teams' last game of the weekend. Kattie Popko and Halee Warren each posted two hits for the Crusaders while Ciera Jones twirled a two-hitter.

Madonna scored once in the first inning on a double by Kerstyn Comerzan and added to its lead with a sacrifice fly and a groundout in the third frame. After Warren's leadoff triple in the fifth, the Crusaders tacked on two more unearned runs

Goshen got a runner into scoring position in the fourth inning, when Sandra Rodriguez's leadoff single was followed by a fielding error that allowed Brooke Maes to reach base, but the next three batters went down in order as the on-deck hitter represented the tying run. Sherman added a two-out single in the seventh inning.

Up Next: Goshen continues its 22-game, four-state season-opening road trip on Feb. 17 and 18. The Maple Leafs will visit William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri, to play the host Owls and Briar Cliff University twice apiece.