TUCSON, Ariz. – College of Saint Mary dropped a pair of hard-fought slugfests to Montana schools on Saturday at the Tucson Invitational, falling 14-10 to the University of Providence and then 9-8 to Carroll College.

The Flames finished the Arizona trip winless in five games to drop to 3-11 on the season, but Coach Carolyn Todd Bray saw plenty of positive signs to build upon.

"We didn't get the end result in these games, but we definitely got a lot better this week,'' she said. "And we had a lot of people step up and fill in some spots, so that was great to see.''

In the Carroll (2-3) game, CSM trailed 9-4 heading into the seventh before making things extremely interesting. The fireworks started with the Flames down to their final out and two runners aboard. Allyson Lynch singled home Adelia Dunlap, while Maycee Hays moved to second.

Kayla Kitzman then doubled home Lynch and Hays to make it a 9-7 game. That brought up Ella Christensen, who singled home Kitzman and moved to second with the tying run on the throw.

However, pitcher Mackenzie Depaoli induced a groundout to short to end it.

CSM had grabbed an early 4-2 lead in the game.

"We came out hitting great and hit well at the end, but were undisciplined in the middle innings -- chasing riseballs and letting good strikes go by,'' Bray said.

Kitzman finished 2 for 4 with three RBIs, and Bray said she also had a "great game defensively.'' Maria Perez added a pair of hits, while Haley Anderson and Makenna Earnest joined Lynch and Christensen with single RBIs.

In the opener against Providence (4-8), CSM also supplied plenty of offense, finishing with 13 hits, including six extra-base hits. However, Kasidy Yeoman (five) and Tehneson Ehnes (four) combined for nine RBIs to help the Argos to the win.

Freshman Kynzee McFadden led off the bottom of the first for CSM with a solo homer, her first collegiate round-tripper. She added a double and finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Shaylynn Campbell added two hits, including a double and an RBI, while Hays also had two hits, including a double. Perez and Anderson each stroked doubles, with Perez driving in three runs and Anderson two.

"We hit really well today, but Providence hit really well, too,'' Bray said. "We got a great suicide bunt from Ally Lynch to score Anderson.''

CSM returns to action March 17 with a 6 p.m. nonconference game at Bellevue University.