DUNDAS, Minn. – Playing its first games in 369 days, the No. 13 St. Olaf College softball team bounced back from a 7-2 loss in game one to take game two, 8-6, in its season-opening non-conference doubleheader against the University of St. Thomas on Friday evening at the Dundas Dome.

After St. Thomas (1-1) took the opener, St. Olaf (1-1) scored five first-inning runs in game two, highlighted by a three-run home run by Hannah Matthies. The Tommies twice cut a four-run deficit to two and got the tying run to the plate in the seventh before Julie Graf slammed the door to record the save.

St. Thomas 7, No. 13 St. Olaf 2 | Box Score

The Tommies used three multi-run innings and a complete game from Kierstin Anderson-Glass to claim the opener. Anderson-Glass scattered seven hits and recorded six strikeouts to pick up the win.

St. Thomas opened the scoring in the bottom of the second, scoring a pair of unearned runs on a throwing error, and added two more in the fourth to double its lead to 4-0. A two-out infield single by Tarah DeCroock plated pinch-runner Kaelin Sbrocco to get the Oles on the board in the top of the fifth.

Sam Birling blasted a two-run home run to left-center field as part of a three-run bottom of the sixth as the Tommies stretched their lead to 7-1. DeCroock added her second run-scoring hit of the game, a two-out RBI double down the left-field line, in the seventh before Anderson-Glass finished off her complete-game win.

Kaleigh Santmyer joined DeCroock with two-hit performances in the opener for the Oles. Julie Graf struck out nine in six innings for St. Olaf but took the game-one loss.

No. 13 St. Olaf 8, St. Thomas 6 | Box Score

St. Olaf jumped on St. Thomas starter Megan Baniecke for five runs in the bottom of the first and held on the rest of the way to pick up its first win over the Tommies since 1998. St. Thomas had won 47-straight games in the series including the game-one victory.

After the first two batters of the game reached for the Oles, Shreya Ashok dropped a single down the left-field line to score DeCroock. Matthies followed with a long home run to right field – the eighth of her career - to quickly give St. Olaf a 4-0 lead. Later in the inning, Jordan Melz added an RBI single to cap the five-run first.



St. Thomas scored the next three runs to get within two runs before Katie Weisheit knocked in Ashok with an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to push St. Olaf's lead to 6-3. Weisheit and Ashok each had three hits in game two.

After the Tommies answered with a run in the top of the sixth, the Oles scored two insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, scoring on consecutive RBI singles by Matthies and Santymer with the bases loaded.

St. Thomas mounted a rally in the seventh by scoring a pair of runs, but Graf got the final two outs after coming on in relief to pick up the save. Carly Dammann earned the win after working the first four-plus innings for St. Olaf before turning the ball over to Kaitlyn Miller, who worked 2.1 innings prior to Graf entering the game.

The Oles return to the Dundas Dome on Saturday, March 20 for a twin bill against the College of St. Scholastica starting at 6:45 p.m.