NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team celebrated Senior Day by sweeping crosstown-rival Carleton College on Saturday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field, getting a walk-off 2-1 win in game one before taking game two by a 6-4 margin.

St. Olaf (16-14, 11-1 MIAC) won game one on a walk-off hit batter with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and held on in the seventh inning of game two to complete the sweep of Carleton (16-11, 4-8 MIAC). The Oles have won the last nine games in the series between the crosstown rivals and seven of the nine wins have come by one or two runs.

Prior to the game, St. Olaf honored its six graduating seniors – Carly Dammann, Abby Grismer, Jordan Melz, Katie Howard, Kaleigh Santmyer, and Emily Pounds – and their families on the field. The group of six has helped the Oles to 76 wins, two appearances in the MIAC Playoffs, and a MIAC regular-season title over the last four seasons.

The Oles hit the road to face No. 14 Bethel on Sunday, April 24 at 1 p.m. in Arden Hills with first place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) standings on the line. The Royals enter the doubleheader riding a 21-game winning streak and are one game ahead of St. Olaf in the conference standings.

St. Olaf 2, Carleton 1 | Box Score

Game one was a pitchers' duel between sophomore Jaelyn Orth and Logan Robinson, as the teams went into the bottom of the seventh tied at 1-1. In the final half inning, the Oles filled the bases with two outs before DeCroock was grazed by the first pitch of her at bat to give St. Olaf the walk-off win.

Orth won her sixth-straight decision and threw her fourth complete game of the season, limiting Carleton to one run on three hits with one walk and seven strikeouts to improve to 7-6 on the season. The sophomore has given up just two earned runs in her last seven appearances spanning 34.0 innings.

St. Olaf got on the board quickly with a run in the bottom of the first on a two-out RBI single through the right side by junior Andrea Conway. Sophomore Shreya Ashok started the inning with a single and moved up to third on a sacrifice bunt by DeCroock and a fly ball to right off the bat of sophomore Anne Fossum.

The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fourth when the Knights got their lone run of the game on a one-out solo home run by Cassie Cunniff just inside the foul pole in right field. Carleton threatened to take the lead in the top of the seventh, getting a runner on third base with only one out, but Orth got back-to-back strikeouts to keep the score tied at 1-1.

In the home half of the seventh, Santmyer bounced a single through the left side for a leadoff hit before Grismer advanced pinch runner Jenna Peschel with a sacrifice bunt to get a runner in scoring position. After a walk to sophomore Katie Weisheit and a strikeout, Ashok reached on an infield single to fill the bases, setting the stage for DeCroock's game-ending at bat.

Robinson suffered the loss despite holding the Oles to two runs on five hits over 6.2 innings, walking two and striking out two.  

St. Olaf 6, Carleton 4 | Box Score

Ashok had the first four-hit game of her collegiate career, going 4-for-4 with a triple, two runs, and two RBI in game two, as St. Olaf held off a seventh-inning rally by Carleton to complete the sweep. The Oles held a 6-2 lead entering the top of the seventh but a strikeout from Grismer with the bases loaded to finish off a 6-4 win.

In addition to Ashok's four-hit game, Conway was 2-for-3 with a run and two RBI. Peschel improved to 4-0 on the season by throwing six innings of two-run ball before turning the ball over to Grismer in the seventh. Peschel allowed just five hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

After both teams scored a run in the first inning on a ground out, the score remained 1-1 until St. Olaf scored twice in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead for good. Fossum and Conway started the inning with back-to-back singles before eventually coming around to score on a passed ball and a run-scoring single by junior Maya Patty.

The Oles added a run to their lead in the fifth on a two-out single by Conway, but the Knights got the run back in the next half inning. Ashok drove a two-out, two-run triple down the right-field line in the sixth to stretch St. Olaf's lead to 6-2.

In the top of the seventh, four-straight Carleton batters reached base after the first batter of the inning was retired, leading to two runs to make it a two-run game. After a strikeout for the second out, a wild pitch and a walk filled the bases, but Grismer got a swinging strikeout to end the game.