ROCHESTER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team was edged by Grinnell College, 7-6, in its first game of the day before pulling away in the final inning for a 9-1 win over St. Catherine University on Saturday at Rochester Regional Dome.
Grinnell (1-1) scored twice in the seventh inning after senior
Tarah DeCroock had given St. Olaf (3-3) a 6-5 lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth to give the Pioneers a 7-6 win in the Oles' first game of the day. Later, senior
Carly Dammann held St. Kate's (3-3) scoreless until the seventh inning and St. Olaf used a six-run seventh to break open a 3-0 game on its way to an eight-run non-conference win.
DeCroock was 5-for-8 with a double, a home run, three runs, and four RBI to lead the way offensively for the Oles, who picked up their third-straight split to start the season. St. Olaf is back in action on Sunday, Feb. 27 against Concordia Wisconsin (12 p.m.) and Luther (2 p.m.), which both won 31 games a year ago.
Grinnell 7, St. Olaf 6 | Box Score
St. Olaf overcame a 4-1 deficit to take a 6-5 lead on DeCroock's first home run of the season, but Grinnell got a go-ahead two-run single from Lizzy Vermeulen in the top of the seventh. The Oles got a leadoff double from sophomore
Katie Weisheit to start the home half of the seventh but left her at second.
The Pioneers jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a one-out, two-run single by Samantha Chu in the top of the first. St. Olaf got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second, scoring on three-straight singles by senior
Jordan Melz, senior
Katie Howard, and sophomore
Hannah Peschel.
Run-scoring hits from Chu and Vermeulen in the third and fourth stretched Grinnell's lead to 4-1 before the Oles scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Peschel delivered her second RBI single of the game to score first year
Emma Simons and DeCroock followed with a two-run single to center to bring in Peschel and Howard to tie the game at 4-4 after four.
After the Pioneers went back ahead with a run in the top of the sixth, DeCroock belted a two-out, two-run home run in the next half inning to put the Oles ahead, 6-5. Grinnell took advantage of a St. Olaf error in the top of the seventh to score two unearned runs to take the lead for good, scoring on Vermeulen's two-out, two-run single to center.
Sophomore
Jaelyn Orth threw a complete game in the circle for St. Olaf but suffered the loss after allowing seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits and seven walks with a career-high nine strikeouts.
St. Olaf 9, St. Kate's 1 | Box Score
St. Olaf recorded a season-high 13 hits and scored a season-high nine runs in its second game of the day, using a six-run seventh inning to break open a 3-0 game. Senior
Carly Dammann took care of the rest in the circle, holding the Wildcats to one run on seven hits in a complete-game win.
Dammann walked two and struck out two in her first win of the season to improve to 6-2 in her career. The senior has thrown complete games in both of her starts this season.
DeCroock was 3-for-5 with a double, two runs, and one RBI, while classmate
Kaleigh Santmyer went 3-for-4 with a walk, a run, and two RBI. Weisheit reached base three times during a 2-for-4 performance that included a walk, a run, and two RBI.
The Oles took advantage of DeCroock's leadoff double to start the game, as Weisheit knocked her in with a one-out single to center. The score remained 1-0 until Santmyer and sophomore
Shreya Ashok delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the top of the third to stretch St. Olaf's lead to 3-0.
After St. Kate's left the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, the Oles scored six runs on four hits, three walks, one error, and one hit batter in the top of the seventh to break the game wide open at 9-0. DeCroock and Santmyer had run-scoring singles in the inning and Dammann and Weisheit each drew bases-loaded walks to bring in runs.
The Wildcats got their lone run of the game off Dammann in the final half inning, scoring on a one-out RBI single by Taylor Brunn. Julia Azure was the lone St. Kate's hitter with two hits in the game and scored the team's lone run.
St. Olaf generated 12 hits and drew eight walks off St. Kate's starter Alyssa Montero, who threw 6.1 innings before giving way to Leah Weiss for the final two-thirds of an inning.
