ROCHESTER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team split its two games on the first day of the second annual ACM Softball Tournament, defeating UW-River Falls, 12-4, in six innings in the opener, before being edged, 1-0, by No. 16 Luther College on Saturday at the Rochester Dome.
Trailing UW-River Falls (0-1) by a 4-3 margin, St. Olaf (3-3) scored nine runs over its final two at bats to claim a 12-4, six-inning win in its first game of the day. In the second game of the day, Luther (2-1) scored an unearned run in the first inning and rode the arm of two-time All-American Samantha Bratland to the 1-0 win.
St. Olaf 12, UW-River Falls 4 (6 inn.) | Box
In the opener, UW-River Falls used a four-run top of the fourth to take a 4-3 lead into the bottom of the fifth, but St. Olaf scored five runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth to end the game after six innings.
Jordan Melz and
Tarah DeCroock each knocked in a pair of runs for the Oles, who capitalized on four errors by the Falcons in the game.
Alison Curry reached base all four times, going 2-for-2 with two walks, a double, three runs and one RBI, while
Emily Carr was on base three times, going 2-for-3 with a walk, two doubles and two runs.
St. Olaf opened the scoring in the bottom of the first on a sacrifice fly off the bat of
Hannah Matthies after consecutive hits by
Abby Grismer and Carr. The Oles tacked on two runs in the second to go ahead, 3-0, scoring on a sacrifice fly by Grismer and an error on a stolen base by
Ally Bode.
A pair of two-out, two-run doubles in the top of the fourth put UW-River Falls ahead, 4-3, before St. Olaf plated the final nine runs of the game. After a Carr one-out double in the bottom of the fifth, the Oles drew four-straight walks, including bases-loaded free passes to
Julie Graf and Curry.
With two outs and the bases still loaded, DeCroock drove in two more with a single before the fifth run of the inning scored on a passed ball to give St. Olaf an 8-4 lead. The Oles added four more in the sixth, scoring on a pair of errors in addition to a two-run double by Melz.
Graf earned her second win of the season by allowing just one walk and striking out four over the final two innings.
No. 16 Luther 1, St. Olaf 0 | Box
Later in the day, St. Olaf out-hit Luther by a 7-4 count but could not scratch across a run off Bratland, who threw six shutout innings for the Norse. The one-run win for Luther over St. Olaf was the second in as many seasons after the ninth-ranked Norse topped the Oles, 8-7, last spring on Mar. 25.
Bratland scattered five hits and one walk with six strikeouts over six shutouts frames for Luther to outduel Graf, who allowed an unearned run on four hits and a walk with 11 strikeouts for St. Olaf.
After a 1-2-3 top of the first, Luther's Annie See led off with a double to center to give the Norse an immediate scoring threat. After a passed ball moved See to third, Graf got the first out on a ground ball before Blake Banowetz drove in See with a single to shortstop.
The Oles threatened to score in five different innings but left seven runners in scoring position in the game. St. Olaf had runners on second and third with two outs in the second and third innings before Bratland ended the frames with punch-outs.
Singles by Graf and Grismer put runners on first and second in the fifth before Carr lined out to center. In the sixth, Bratland got the final two batters to end her day after the Oles put runners on first and second.
Courtney Cooper came on for the save in the seventh for Luther and worked around singles by Bode and Carr that left runners on the corner with two outs. Carr had her second two-hit game of the day for the Oles, while Matthies was on base twice with a hit and a walk.
St. Olaf faces Knox College (10 a.m.) and Rockford University (2 p.m.) on day two of the tournament on Sunday, Mar. 3.
