ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – In a matchup of the top-two teams in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) standings, the St. Olaf College softball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader to No. 14-ranked Bethel University on Sunday afternoon at Ona Orth Athletic Complex.

Nationally-ranked Bethel (25-2, 14-0 MIAC) jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and had 16 hits on its way to a 10-2, five-inning victory over St. Olaf (16-16, 11-3 MIAC) in the opener. The Oles trimmed an early 3-0 deficit to one in the fourth inning of game two, but the Royals quickly got the two runs back and went on to close out the sweep to remain unbeaten in MIAC play and stretch their winning streak to 23 games.

Prior to Sunday, St. Olaf had not been swept by a conference opponent since a pair of losses at sixth-ranked St. Thomas on April 6, 2019. The Oles were 43-5 over their last 24 MIAC doubleheaders during that span.

St. Olaf has four more doubleheaders remaining in the regular season and hosts Hamline in a twin bill on Tuesday, April 26 starting at 3:30 p.m. at Mabel Shirley Field.

No. 14 Bethel 10, St. Olaf 2 (5 inn.) | Box Score

Lexi DeBace and Kayla Hokanson were both 4-for-4 for Bethel, as five Royals had at multiple hits in the opener. DeBace scored twice and drove in three runs, while Hokanson knocked in two runs for the hosts whose only two losses this season came to Buena Vista on March 4.

Kayla Simacek – who entered the game ranked seventh nationally with a 0.67 ERA on the season – earned the first of her two wins on the day after giving up two runs on eight hits with no walks and eight strikeouts. The eight hits matched the most given up by Simacek in a game this season.

Seniors Tarah DeCroock and Kaleigh Santmyer had two hits apiece for the Oles, while sophomore Hannah Peschel drove in both of St. Olaf's runs with a single in the fourth.

The Royals got the scoring started with two runs in the bottom of the first, but sophomore Shreya Ashok limited the damage to two runs by throwing out a runner at the plate to end the inning. Bethel stretched its lead to 5-0 in the second with tree more runs and added another with an unearned run in the third.

Trailing 6-0, the Oles got their lone runs of the game in the top of the fourth when Peschel plated pinch-runner Faith Yi and sophomore Katie Weisheit with a one-out single to left before getting thrown out at second. Santmyer started the inning with a single before moving to third on a double by Weisheit.

In the fifth, Bethel finished off the run-rule win by scoring four runs, starting the inning with four-straight hits – including a two-run triple by DeBace – as part of a five-hit inning.

No. 14 Bethel 5, St. Olaf 3 | Box Score

The Royals again built an early lead in game two, leading 3-0 until the Oles got two runs in the fourth to make it a one-run game. Bethel quickly got the two runs back in the home half of the fourth and held off St. Olaf in the seventh.

DeCroock had a pair of RBI doubles in the game for the Oles, who got the game-tying run to the plate in the seventh before Simacek got the final out. Simacek improved to 24-1 on the season by allowing three runs (one earned) on seven hits with two walks and eight strikeouts.

Bethel scored twice on three-straight hits in the bottom of the first and added a run in the third on back-to-back hits to start the inning. Simacek retired nine of the first 10 batters of the game before St. Olaf got to her in the fourth with two runs.

After junior Maya Patty reached on an error, DeCroock drove a double to deep center field to get the Oles on the board. Simacek retired the next two batters before Weisheit singled to right to put runners on the corners for fifth-year senior Abby Grismer, who reached on an infield single to plate DeCroock.

The Royals got both runs back in the next half inning to re-establish a three-run lead. St. Olaf got its first two batters on base in the sixth but could not advance them. In the seventh, sophomore Jaelyn Orth drew a leadoff walk and came in to score on a two-out double by DeCroock to bring the tying run to the plate, but a ground out wrapped up the game for Bethel.