NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team made it back-to-back sweeps to open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play with a pair of run-rule victories over visiting Saint Mary's University (Minn.) on Sunday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field.

St. Olaf (9-13, 4-0 MIAC) trailed 1-0 early in game one before scoring the final nine runs of the game, closing out the run-rule win with five runs in the sixth innings for a 9-1 victory. The Oles jumped out to a 6-0 lead after two innings in game two and went on to complete the sweep of Saint Mary's (10-9, 3-5 MIAC) with a 10-2, six-inning victory.

The sweep was St. Olaf's 16th in its last 20 MIAC doubleheaders dating back to early in the 2019 season, as the Oles improved to 36-4 over their last 40 conference contests. St. Olaf has swept Saint Mary's in all three doubleheaders between the two programs over that span.

Senior Tarah DeCroock went 4-for-6 with a double, four runs, four RBI, and two stolen bases in the two games, while sophomore Anne Fossum was 3-for-5 with two walks, a run, two doubles, one run, and four RBI. Sophomore Katie Weisheit also had four hits over the two games, including the first home run of her collegiate career in game one.

St. Olaf hosts Hamline on Wednesday, April 13 in its third-straight home doubleheader to begin conference play. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m. at Mabel Shirley Field.

St. Olaf 9, Saint Mary's 1 (6 inn.) | Box Score

Weisheit broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run home run – the first of her career – in the fourth inning of game one to ignite the St. Olaf offense, which scored in each of its final four innings at the plate. Nine Oles had at least one hit and eight scored a run in the game-one win.

In addition to Weisheit's home run, Fossum went 2-for-2 with a walk and three RBI and DeCroock was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs, and two RBI. Sophomore Jaelyn Orth picked up her third-straight victory with three shutout innings of relief of fifth-year senior Abby Grismer, who worked the first three frame. Orth allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out two to earn win number four on the season.

After the Cardinals got their lone run of the game in the second, St. Olaf tied the game in the home half of the third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Fossum that scored Grismer, who led off the inning with a single, moved to second on a passed ball, and got to third on a double by first year Faith Yi.

The Oles took the lead for good on Weisheit's two-run home run that just cleared the wall in right and came with two outs after DeCroock doubled to start the inning. DeCroock plated a run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth after St. Olaf started the inning with three-straight singles to load the bases.

Fossum kick started a five-run sixth inning with a two-run double to right center to make it a 6-1 game. A run-scoring groundout by junior Andy Conway followed by an RBI single by DeCroock pushed the Oles' lead to 8-1 with two outs before junior Maya Patty ended the game with a RBI double to right center.

Saint Mary's mustered just four hits in the game. Sarah Kraus took the loss after allowing four runs on eight hits in five innings.

St. Olaf 10, Saint Mary's 2 (6 inn.) | Box Score

Five Oles had multi-hit games in game two, as St. Olaf registered a season-high 14 hits to win its fourth-straight game to open MIAC play. Sophomore Shreya Ashok went 2-for-3 with a walk and two runs out of the leadoff spot, DeCroock was 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs, and two RBI, junior Kaleigh Santmyer was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, and sophomore Hannah Peschel had a pair of doubles to go with a run scored and an RBI.

Senior Carly Dammann held Saint Mary's to two runs on six hits in a complete-game win, walking two and striking out three to pick up her second win of the season.

Back-to-back two-out singles by DeCroock and Santmyer resulted in two first-inning runs to get St. Olaf out to an early lead. The Oles stretched their lead to 6-0 with four more in the second. Fossum drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the first run of the inning, Conway followed with a two-run double, and DeCroock added a run-scoring single to cap the four-run second, with all four runs scoring before the second out.

The Cardinals cut into the Oles' lead with two runs in the top of the third, as four-straight batters reached to start the inning. Leading 6-2, St. Olaf got one run in the fifth on a two-out RBI double by Peschel to score fifth-year senior Jordan Melz, who singled with two outs to keep the inning alive.

St. Olaf went on to end the game after six innings with three more runs in the sixth. With two outs and a runners on first and third, a wild pitch brought in one run before Santmyer doubled to left and Weisheit singled to right to result in the run-rule victory.