St. Ambrose started the 2024 season by winning all four games Saturday and Sunday at the first of three Dome Tournaments played at the Ambrose Dome in Davenport, Iowa.

The Bees got things started with a 6-0 shutout of Saint Mary (Neb.) before closing Saturday with a 3-1 win over Cornerstone. Sunday, SAU defeated Viterbo 4-0 before closing the weekend with a 3-2 comeback win over Culver-Stockton.

Three SAU pitchers combined on a three-hit shutout of Saint Mary. Cara Linnenkamp picked up the win after tossing four scoreless frames. Leah Maro struck out four in her two innings before Chloe Mitchell got a pair of strikeouts in the seventh.

The Bee offense came up with nine hits, with six of those coming from the top three spots in the order. Shai Erdrich, Reagan Engberg and Alyssa Schumacher combined for six hits, three RBIs and three runs scored from the top of the lineup. Mackenzie Stiewe also had a pair of hits.

It was Paige Kirkman's single that plated Schumacher that got St. Ambrose on the board in the third. Allison Polly dropped down a squeeze bunt to bring in Mya Millsaps in the fourth before an error on Reagan Engberg's grounder allowed both Erdrich and Kylee Claypool to score. Erdrich and Engberg had run-scoring singles in the fifth inning to end the scoring.

Emilee Erickson followed the season-opening gem by tossing one of her own in the 3-1 win over Cornerstone. She allowed just one hit while striking out 10 in going the distance. Erickson was perfect through six innings before surrendering a leadoff triple in the seventh. A one-out groundout ended her shutout bid but she struck out the final hitter to close out the victory.

Mady Reed and Schumacher each picked up two of the Bees' five hits. Schumacher, Eryn Cornwell and Erdrich drove in the SAU runs.

Maro returned to the circle Sunday and earned the win over Viterbo by tossing five innings of one-hit ball. She struck out seven. Annebelle Krull did not allow a hit over the final two frames.

Becca Haag got the Bees on the board with a sacrifice bunt that brought in Schumacher in the fourth. An inning later, SAU took advantage of a pair of errors to score three runs, two of them were unearned. Millsaps, Engberg and Schumacher had the RBIs. Six different Bees - Erdrich, Schumacher, Kirkman, Reed, Cornwell and Eleanor Flores - had hits.

St. Ambrose swept the weekend by pushing across three runs in the bottom of the fifth to defeat Culver-Stockton 3-2.

After the Wildcats scored two in the top of the frame, the first two Bees were retired before the team rallied. Brooke Baker started things with a double. Erdrich singled and promptly stole second. Engberg reached on an error that allowed pinch runner Allison Polly to score. Engberg then stole second before Schumacher followed with a two-run single, her second hit of the game, to bring in a pair.

Linnenkamp surrendered two runs, just one earned over 4 1/3 innings. Mitchell picked up the win with 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief.

St. Ambrose will host its second Dome Tournament next weekend.