Quinnipiac women’s softball (21-21, 7-5) saw two polar performances from its starting pitchers as it split Sunday afternoon’s doubleheader at home against the Siena Saints (14-25, 9-5). The Bobcats lost the first game 10-6 and got a 2-1 win on a walk-off in the second game.

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In game one, the Saints started the scoring early, scoring seven runs by the end of the third inning. Jazmin Ortiz hit a double in the second inning off of Bobcats starter Casey Herzog (8-11), knocking in two unearned runs.

In the third, Madysen Cossack doubled to left center, scoring Paige Hess from first to put the Saints up 3-0. Cossack would score in the next at-bat with Chelsey Drew hitting a single and advancing to third base on a throwing error by Sarah Heimbach. Brooke Taylor would follow with a single to center, putting the Saints up 5-0.

A few batters later with the bases loaded and two outs, Jess Vollmer singled to center to make it 6-0. Herzog would walk Hess to make it 7-0 before getting Cossack to fly out in her second at-bat of the inning. Herzog’s day was over after the third, giving up seven runs, five of them being earned while striking out two batters and walking three.

“The past two days, Casey’s been off just a little bit, and she missed a couple of spots,” Bobcats head coach Jill Karowski said. “We’re really confident in our pitching staff,” Karowski added.

The Bobcats got a run back in the third when Rebecca Drake singled to score Emily Czaja from second.

After the Saints scored in the top of the fourth, the Bobcats would get two runs in the bottom of the fifth with Drake and Keala Cordeiro knocking in runs to make it 8-3.

The Saints would add two more runs in the top of the sixth to make it 10-3. Taylor Troyan got a run for the Bobcats when she grounded out to third, scoring Heimbach.

The Bobcats threatened to make a comeback in the final frame with Lexi Courtney hitting a single to score Drake to make it 10-5. A few batters later, Emily Czaja was walked with the bases loaded to make it 10-6. With a chance to tie it, Taylor fouled out to third, giving the Saints the win and Danielle Cacciola her first save of the season. Saints starting pitcher Lauren Butts (8-10) pitched six and a third innings, getting the win.

“We’re really confident in our pitching staff,” Karowski said. “We’ll let our offense do their thing and if our pitchers have confidence we’ll come out with the win.”

In game two, Bobcats starter and Abbey Long (11-9) and Saints starter Maddie McMahon (6-9) were locked into to a pitching duel with nobody scoring until the fourth inning.

“I think it wasn’t my best day technically on the mound,” Long said. “Some of my pitches weren’t working exactly the way I wanted. I couldn’t get some of the call I wanted, but they didn’t hit too many balls hard and my defense did a really great job behind me.”

The Bobcats struck first when Courtney hit a solo home run to left, giving them a 1-0 lead.

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In the top of the sixth, Vollmer got a one-out single. She then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Courtney after Long stuck out Hess. Cossack got an infield single that hit off of Long to score Vollmer and tie the game.

“I was a little bit nervous,” Long said. “When the balls were getting hit, I was missing my spots.”

Both teams were unable to score in their next at-bats.

Troyan started off the bottom of the seventh with a single to left. Kat Vitale was a pinch runner for Troyan as she advanced to second, with sacrifice bunt by Heimbach.

Czaja won the game for the Bobcats in the next at-bat, doubling to left to score Vitale.

“[McMahon] was pitching middle-end all day, so I was looking to turn on a pitch and just drive it down the line to score Kat and get the ‘W’,” Czaja said.

The Bobcats are still in fifth place in the MAAC following Sunday’s games. To make it to the MAAC playoffs for the second straight year, the Bobcats will need to finish in the top six of the conference. It will play its next two doubleheaders at Niagara and Canisius on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.