First-year student Jacqueline Dufour and sophomore Carly Dziekan each hit the first home runs of their respective collegiate careers in the St. Lawrence softball team's doubleheader split with SUNY Canton on Thursday afternoon.

Dufour's three-run shot in the fifth inning of game two plated the eventual game-winning run in an 8-6 victory for the Saints. Dziekan connected for a solo shot that gave St. Lawrence a 1-0 lead in game one, but SUNY Canton would go on to earn a 9-8 win with the help of two home runs of its own.

Dziekan's home run lead of a two-run third for the Saints, as first-year Kylee Knight also came around to score in the top half of the frame. But the Roos answered with six runs on five hits, including a home run by Stefanie Miller, and two Saints errors to take a 6-2 lead in the contest.

After a scoreless fourth, St. Lawrence scored five runs in the top of the fifth inning to retake the lead. First-year Laura Finley stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and doubled to left center to drive in Jordan Sheridan and Aisha O'Connor before a Kelsey Murphy groundout plated Brady Cooper. Finley later came around to score on a wild pitch and Emma Gailey singled down the right field line to score Emma Reakes and give the Saints a 7-6 lead.

But Shannon Dowling led off the bottom half of the frame with a solo home run for the Roos to tie the game and a two-run single by Kaleigh Foran gave Canton the lead for good, 9-7.

O'Connor scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to cut the deficit to one run, but that Saints couldn't close the gap.

Senior Kyle Plimpton (11-9) gave up nine runs (four earned) on eight hits in four and two-thirds innings pitched in the loss, while striking out seven. Emma Gailey threw one and one-third innings in relief and allowed just one hit and picked up a strikeout.

Gailey earned a complete-game win in game two; the second of her career and second against Canton this season, as she allowed 11 hits and six runs with six strikeouts in the team's 8-5 win. She also helped herself at the plate, going 1-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and a run scored.

After finding themselves in a 3-0 hole after the bottom of the third inning, St. Lawrence answered with four runs in the top of the fourth on four hits and two errors to take a 4-3 lead.

Dufour's pinch-hit home run in the top of the fifth extended the lead to 7-3 as she drove in Knight, who tripled to start a two-out rally for the Saints, and O'Connor.

The Roos got a solo home run from Stephanie LaValley in the bottom half of the inning to make it 7-4, and the team's traded runs in the sixth inning to give the Saints an 8-5 lead heading into the final inning.

Miller scores on wild pitch for Canton in the bottom of the seventh, but Gailey responded with a strikeout and got a pop up to third to seal the win for St. Lawrence.

Every Saint that came to the plate in game two recorded a hit, as Knight led the team with a 3-for-4 performance with two RBI and two runs scored. O'Connor, Sheridan, Cooper and Finley also had multi-hit days for St. Lawrence.

The Saints are now 13-11 overall heading in to their final liberty league matchup of the regular season against the University of Rochester on Sunday.