ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – First year
Anne Fossum hit a three-run home run for her first collegiate homer early in game two, as the St. Olaf College softball team came away with a split in a road doubleheader at No. 16 Saint Benedict on Saturday afternoon.
Saint Ben's (15-5, 7-3 MIAC) scored an unearned run in the fifth inning for the lone scoring of game one, but St. Olaf (11-3, 9-1 MIAC) rebounded for a 5-2 victory in game two behind Fossum's second-inning three-run shot. The game-two win was the Oles' first against a ranked opponent since a 9-1 victory over UW-Whitewater down in Florida on March 23, 2019.
In game one, CSB's Elly Novak outdueled
Julie Graf, allowing just two hits and striking out six in a complete-game shutout for the Bennies. After striking out 15 in the hard-luck loss, Graf had nine punch outs in four innings of one-hit relief to earn the victory in game two.
No. 16 Saint Benedict 1, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score
Saint Ben's scratched across the lone run of the game in the fifth inning when Gabby Spencer scored on a throwing error while stealing third after reaching on a two-out single and stealing second.
The unearned run was all Novak needed, as she turned in her fourth shutout of the season, allowing just a two-out single by
Hannah Peschel in the third and a leadoff single by
Kaleigh Santmyer in the fourth.
Graf got 15-of-18 outs by strikeout, allowing just three hits and two walks in the complete-game loss. Spencer had two of CSB's three-hits in the game.
St. Olaf 5, No. 16 Saint Benedict 2 | Box Score
Fossum was one of three Oles with a pair of hits in game two and her three-run home run proved to be the difference, as St. Olaf bounced back from its first conference loss of the season. Seniors
Ally Bode and
Hannah Matthies also had two hits, while Santmyer added a two-run double to help the Oles to the win.
After
Jenna Peschel left the bases full of Bennies in the first, Matthies doubled to start the second and, two batters later, Graf reached on an error to put two on for Fossum. The first year proceeded to give the Oles a 3-0 lead with her first-career home run to open the scoring.
Saint Ben's got one run back in the bottom of the third before Santmyer delivered a two-out, two-run double in the fourth to stretch St. Olaf's lead to 5-1.
CSB came back with a home run and a single to start the home half of the fourth to prompt a pitching change for the Oles. Graf got a pair of strikeouts to keep the Saint Ben's runner from scoring from third for the first two outs and, after a hit batter and a walk loaded the bases, got another strikeout to keep it a three-run game.
The Bennies had a runner on base in the fifth and sixth innings before Graf had a 1-2-3 seventh to wrap up her seventh victory of the season.
St. Olaf, which is tied with St. Catherine for first place in the MIAC standings, hosts Bethel on Sunday, April 18 starting at 1 p.m. The Royals are tied with St. Thomas for second in the conference and swept the Bennies on Thursday in St. Joseph.
