Addy Perryman’s first home run turned a deficit into a lead.

The junior No. 8 hitter’s second home run gave the Mendota softball team some much-needed breathing room after blowing late leads in their last two ballgames, both losses.

And her squeeze at first base for the final out of the seventh inning finished off the Trojans’ first win of the young season Wednesday, a 9-4 nonconference victory over the host Marquette Crusaders at June Gross Field in Ottawa.

“When I get two strikes, I get nervous,” the left-handed-hitting Perryman said of her first homer, a crushed fly ball over the right-field fence in the top of the second inning that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 advantage. “And I had two strikes on me, no balls, and I was just kind of like, ‘OK, I’ve got to hit it. Let’s go.’ And when I hit it, I kind of felt it. ...

“[This win] was pretty big. We just came off of two really close ones that we were winning and then we lost in the seventh inning, so this one meant a lot to us.”

Perryman’s second home run – a two-run shot to left-center in the fourth – made it a 6-1 Trojans lead. Her five RBIs on the day proved to be enough all by themselves for Mendota pitcher Lexie Saylor (7 IP, 4 ER, 11 H, 0 BB, 4 K) to notch the complete-game victory against an 11-hit effort from a Marquette offense that has been on fire to open the season.

“I think [Perryman’s second-inning homer] was good to help us loosen up,” Mendota coach Joel Perez said. “We haven’t had much to celebrate about. We’ve had the lead in two of the games we’ve lost ... and I think it pumped the girls up when [Perryman] hit it and made them relax a little bit, and [Saylor] pitched great.”

Saylor – who like Perryman finished with three hits, two of hers doubles – surrendered a run in the first on back-to-back Kinley Rick and Lily Brewer doubles, two in the fifth on RBI singles from Kelsey Cuchra and Chloe Thrush, and a solo homer in the seventh to Rick.

It was for the most part a pretty good offensive day for Marquette – especially Brewer (2 for 4, RBI), Hunter Hopkins (2 for 3) and Rick (2 for 4, solo homer) – but the clutch hits Mendota (1-3) found time and again simply weren’t there for the Crusaders (5-2).

“We started off really good, and then just got in a slump a little bit,” Rick said. “I thought we hit well; it just wasn’t in key moments. We left a lot of runners on. We hit pretty well, just not our usual.”

On the other side, the Trojans scored three in the second on Perryman’s first homer, three times in the fourth with Perryman’s two-run opposite field homer the big blast, and added insurance runs in the fifth thanks to an Eva Beetz double followed by a Leah Henkel RBI single and the seventh on a Saylor RBI groundout and Karson Doyle sacrifice fly that was dropped.

Savannah Erickson (4.1 IP, 7 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 1 K) was dealt the pitching loss, with Brewer (2.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4 K) coming on in relief.

Marquette outhit Mendota 11-9, but committed two run-scoring errors in the field and stranded eight runners on base – six of them in scoring position.

“We left a lot of runners on base, and you can’t do those things and expect to win,” Crusaders coach Curtiss Johnson said. “[Mendota] hit the ball well. You’ve got to tip your cap sometimes, but we’ve got to be better if we want to win games.

“You have to execute when you’ve got your opportunities, and we didn’t do that today.”

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 18

Mendota's Addy Perryman smiles while running home after hitting her first of two home runs against Marquette on Wednesday, March 25, 2026 at June Gross Field in Ottawa. (Scott Anderson)