DUNDAS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team extended its unbeaten start to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play to six games by sweeping the College of St. Scholastica by scores of 5-2 and 5-3 on Saturday afternoon at the Dundas Dome.

After giving up two runs in the first half inning, St. Olaf (11-13, 6-0 MIAC) held St. Scholastica (10-13, 2-7 MIAC) scoreless for the rest of the opener and used multi-run innings in the second and fifth to claim a 5-2 win. The Saints held a 3-2 lead in game two before the Oles scored three runs in the sixth – two on the go-ahead double by senior Tarah DeCroock – to complete the sweep.

With the sweep, St. Olaf improved to 38-4 over its last 21 MIAC doubleheaders going back to early in the 2019 season. The twin bill marked the first games between the Oles and Saints as conference foes.

St. Olaf heads to Minneapolis to take on Augsburg on Tuesday, April 19 in a 3:30 p.m. start at Edor Nelson Field.

St. Olaf 5, St. Scholastica 2 | Box Score

After St. Scholastica scored twice in the top of the first, fifth-year senior Abby Grismer and sophomore Jaelyn Orth combined to hold the Saints scoreless the rest of the way in the opener. The Oles tied the game at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the second before scoring three times in the fifth to break the tie.

Orth – the reigning MIAC Softball Pitcher of the Week – picked up her fourth-straight win by allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out four over the final three innings in relief of Grismer, who worked the first four frames. Grismer yielded two runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts.

Sophomore Shreya Ashok, sophomore Katie Weisheit, and junior Maya Patty all had two hits, a run, and an RBI to pace St. Olaf's offense, while DeCroock had the first of her two go-ahead hits on the day with a run-scoring single in the fifth.

St. Scholastica mounted a two-out rally in the first, scoring twice after the first two batters of the game were retired by stringing together a hit batter and three-straight singles. The Oles countered with a two-run second, scoring on back-to-back doubles by Weisheit and Patty with one out and a two-out infield hit by Ashok.

Grismer pitched out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth before St. Olaf eventually broke the tie in the fifth. Singles by Ashok and sophomore Anne Fossum and a pair of stolen bases put runners on second and third with nobody out for DeCroock, who drove a single down the left-field line to plate the eventual game-winning run. Two batters later, senior Kaleigh Santmyer brought in Fossum with a single and Weisheit followed with a sacrifice fly for the final run of the game.

The only hit Orth allowed over the final three innings was a leadoff single in the seventh. The sophomore has now allowed an earned run in any of her last four appearances, allowing just four hits while striking out 22 batters over 17.0 innings during that span.

St. Olaf 5, St. Scholastica 3 | Box Score

St. Scholastica took advantage of a pair of St. Olaf errors in the fifth to score two runs and take a 3-2 lead in game two, but the Oles plated three runs in the sixth to finish off the sweep. DeCroock broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run double to right center in the sixth for her second decisive hit of the day.

Senior Carly Dammann picked up win number three on the season with a complete game in the circle for St. Olaf, limiting St. Scholastica to one earned run (three runs) on five hits with no walks and four strikeouts. The complete game was second in a row and team-leading fourth of the season.

After the Saints got on the board with a run in the top of the first, the Oles responded with two runs of their own in the home half of the inning. With two on and two outs, junior Andrea Conway blasted a two-run double to right center to give St. Olaf a 2-1 lead before getting thrown out at third on the play.

St. Olaf left the bases loaded in the fourth before St. Scholastica capitalized on two miscues in the top of the fifth to score twice and reclaim the lead. The Saints maintained the 3-2 lead until the bottom of the sixth when the Oles scored the final runs of the game.

To start the inning, three-straight batters drew walks for St. Olaf to fill the bases with nobody out. With the bases still loaded and one out, Fossum lined a sacrifice fly to right to tie the game at 3-3 and DeCroock followed with a two-run double to the gap in right center – the lone hit of the inning – to break the tie. The two-run double brought DeCroock into a tie with Conway and Santmyer for the team lead with 13 RBI this season.

Ashok was 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and a stolen base, Conway went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI, and Weisheit reached base all three times by going 2-for-2 with a double and a walk for St. Olaf.

Olivia Howe threw a complete game in the circle for the Saints, allowing five runs on nine hits with five walks and no strikeouts. Dammann did not allow an earned run after the first inning and finished off the complete game with 115 pitches for the Oles.