Softball Game Preview: Orono Spartans vs. St. Francis Fighting Saints

The Orono Spartans will head out to face off against the St. Francis Fighting Saints at 4:00 p.m. on Monday. Orono is coming into the match on a six-game losing streak.

St. Louis Park hit Orono with a six-run sixth inning on Friday, which goes a long way in explaining the final result. The Spartans fell just short of the Orioles by a score of 7-6.

Meanwhile, it may have taken eight innings to finish the job, but St. Francis ultimately got the result they hoped for on Friday. They walked away with a 5-2 win over North Branch. That's two games straight that the Fighting Saints have won by exactly three runs.

St. Francis saw eight different players step up and record at least one hit. One of them was Kaely Saporito, who went 1-for-2 with two RBI and one run. Those two RBI gave Saporito a new career-high.

St. Francis has been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven games. That's provided a nice bump to their 13-3 record this season. The victories came thanks in part to their pitching effort, having only surrendered 2.7 runs on average over those games. As for Orono, they now have a losing record of 6-7.

Orono came up short against St. Francis in their previous matchup back in April of 2024, falling 6-3. Can the Spartans avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.