NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team completed its regular-season home schedule with a 9-1 record by recording 13-6 and 7-1 victories over Macalester College in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) action on Thursday at Mabel Shirley Field.
Macalester (14-22, 8-12 MIAC) jumped out to a 5-1 lead early in game one before St. Olaf (20-16, 15-3 MIAC) scored 12 of the game's final 13 runs behind a 15-hit attack that included a career-high five RBI from fifth-year senior
Abby Grismer. Sophomore
Jenna Peschel threw a complete game in the circle in game two to remain unbeaten this season at 5-0 after allowing just one run on five hits.
The Oles play their final two regular-season series on the road this weekend, taking on St. Kate's on Saturday, April 30 and Gustavus on Sunday, May 1. First pitch in game one on both days is at 1 p.m.
St. Olaf 13, Macalester 6 | Box Score
Macalester scored three runs in the first and two more in the second to build an early 5-1 lead in the opener, but St. Olaf plated four runs in the third, four in the fourth, and three more in the fifth to rally over the middle innings. Grismer drove in five runs and was one of six Oles with multiple hits in the victory
Junior
Maya Patty was 3-for-4 with one RBI and three runs scored, senior
Tarah DeCroock was 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored, and sophomores
Katie Weisheit and
Hannah Peschel each had a pair of hits and drove in a run.
With the Scots leading 5-1, the Oles started their rally in the bottom of the third, benefitting from three Macalester errors in the inning to tie the game at 5-5. Senior
Kaleigh Santmyer started the scoring in the inning with a run-scoring single, Grismer delivered a two-run single, and H. Peschel tied the game with a sacrifice fly later in the inning.
After the Scots took the lead back with a run in the top of the fourth, St. Olaf took the lead for good with four runs on five hits in the home half of the inning. Like in the third, Santmyer knocked in the first run of the inning with a single and Grismer drove in two more with double before sophomore
Katie Weisheit capped the inning with an RBI single.
The Oles tacked on three more runs in the fifth on a bases-loaded walk to Santmyer, a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to sophomore
Anne Fossum, and a fielder's choice ground out by Grismer. Patty plated the final run of the game with a sacrifice fly in the sixth after H. Peschel tripled to start the inning.
Sophomore
Jaelyn Orth benefited from the run support to pick up her ninth win of the season despite allowing six runs on nine hits over the first five innings. Grismer allowed just two hits and struck out one over the final two frames.
St. Olaf 7, Macalester 1 | Box Score
J. Peschel threw her second complete game of the season by holding Macalester to one run on five hits with two walks and four strikeouts, needing just 88 pitches to get through the seven innings. The sophomore kept the Scots off the scoreboard until the seventh inning, falling just short of her second shutout of the season.
Offensively, six Oles had at least one hit in the victory, led by two-hit games from DeCroock, Weisheit, and H. Peschel. Junior Andrew Conway drove in three runs in the win, which included three multi-run innings.
St. Olaf started the scoring in the bottom of the second, getting three hits from the first four hitters of the inning. Grismer began the inning with a single to center before scoring on a double by Weisheit, who got to third on the throw and scored on a single up the middle by H. Peschel.
The score stayed 2-0 until the Oles doubled their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth with RBI ground outs by Conway and Grismer. St. Olaf stretched its lead to 7-0 in sixth, scoring on a sacrifice fly by DeCroock followed by a two-out, two-run single by Conway.
The Scots got their lone run of the game in the top of the seventh thanks to three-straight hits before J. Peschel retired the final two batters, including snaring a line drive to end the game.
