ROSEMONT, Ill. – Thursday night was Opening Day for the Roosevelt softball team at The Ballpark at Rosemont, and the Lakers opened their 2015 home slate against seventh-ranked Saint Xavier under the lights.

The Lakers (5-7, 0-2 CCAC) gave the Cougars (17-2-1, 4-0 CCAC) all they could handle in a narrow 8-7 loss in the opener before a miscue-laden second opened up a one-run game and allowed Saint Xavier to take a 9-5 decision in the finale.

In game one, Roosevelt nursed a slim lead until a five-run Saint Xavier sixth, yet the Lakers stayed within striking distance of one of the nation's top 10 teams and put the tying run at third in the seventh before falling 8-7.

Katie Neubauer rebounded from a two-run first in the circle by knocking in three in the bottom half of the inning with a bases-clearing double, supporting her pitching cause and giving the Lakers the lead.

Roosevelt led 4-2 until the Cougars' big sixth, as Saint Xavier scored five times with one out until a big Laker double play stopped the bleeding.

The Lakers closed the gap in their half of the sixth with a pair of runs on RBI hits from Alexis Funk and Amanda Ferguson.

Saint Xavier scored a crucial insurance run in the top of the seventh on a bases-loaded walk, and that proved to be the difference after Morgan Vogt hit a run-scoring triple in the bottom of the seventh to make it a one-run affair.

Nicole Nonnemacher escaped further damage by the Green and White, inducing a game-ending flyout off the bat of Funk to strand Vogt at third with the tying run.

Neubauer went 3-for-3 with her three RBI in the first go-around.

Roosevelt cut its early deficit in half in the second game when the Lakers scored a run on Ferguson's first-inning RBI single.

Unfortunately for Vogt, who got the call in the circle in the twinbill-ending contest, two errors allowed three unearned runs to cross the plate in the top of the second to seal the Green and White's fate.

Three more Cougar runs crossed in the seventh, and the Lakers couldn't muster much against SXU starter Callie Brown after their run-producing first until the bottom of the seventh. That's when Roosevelt scored a game-high four runs to make it a 9-5 game.

Unfortunately it was too little, too late for the Lakers at that point, as Brown induced a game-ending flyout to stop the threat.

Ferguson had two hits in the second game.

Roosevelt heads to the Davenport Softball Classic this weekend.