ST. PETER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team recorded its third consecutive Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) sweep by claiming 10-1 and 4-1 road victories over Gustavus Adolphus College on Sunday afternoon at Gustie Softball Field.

St. Olaf (22-16, 17-3 MIAC) got complete games from sophomores Jaelyn Orth and Jenna Peschel to record its third-straight conference sweep and sweep Gustavus (13-21, 8-12 MIAC) for the fifth-straight season. The Gusties scored first-inning runs in both games before Orth and Peschel held them in check the rest of the way.

With the two wins, the Oles remain in second place in the MIAC standings heading into the final few days of the regular season. St. Olaf is two games ahead of Saint Ben's, which has no regular-season games remaining as of Sunday evening. As it currently stands, the Bennies will not be able to make up their two postponed games against Concordia-Moorhead since the Cobbers have other doubleheaders scheduled on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and the MIAC Playoffs begin on Thursday.

St. Olaf closes out the regular season with a doubleheader at St. Kate's on Monday, May 2 starting at 3:30 p.m., knowing one win will secure the No. 2 seed and a bye into the semifinals, regardless of if Saint Ben's is able to get its two games in or not.

St. Olaf 10, Gustavus 1 | Box Score

After Gustavus opened the scoring in the first, St. Olaf scored the game's final 10 runs, using multi-run innings in the third, fourth, and fifth to wrap up the run-rule victory in the opener. The Oles benefitted from seven Gustie errors in the win.

Sophomore Hannah Peschel led the way offensive for St. Olaf by going 3-for-3 with a home run, three runs, and three RBI. Junior Maya Patty was 2-for-4 with one RBI and two runs scored, while senior Tarah DeCroock was 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Orth reached double figures in wins on the season by throwing all five innings in the circle, allowing one run on seven hits with one walk and four strikeouts. The sophomore is 9-1 in her last 10 decisions dating back to March 30.

The Gusties led 1-0 on a first-inning run until the Oles pushed across three runs in the third by taking advantage of three Gustavus errors in the inning. The first run of the inning came in to score on an error before DeCroock drove in the second run with a single to left. With still nobody out in the inning and two runners in scoring position, junior Andrea Conway plated the third run of the inning with the first of her two sacrifice flies in the game.

H. Peschel stretched St. Olaf's lead to 5-1 with a two-run home run to center field after classmate Anne Fossum drew a walk to start the fourth. The home run was H. Peschel's third of the year, tying her with Fossum for the team lead.

The Oles broke the game open in the fifth with five more runs, scoring on RBI singles by H. Peschel and DeCroock, a Gustavus error, a sacrifice fly off the bat of Conway, and a bases-loaded walk to fifth-year senior Abby Grismer. Orth pitched around back-to-back singles to start the home half of the fifth to finish off the run-rule victory.

St. Olaf 4, Gustavus 1 | Box Score

The hosts again took an early lead with a first-inning run but did not score the rest of the way, as J. Peschel ran her record to 6-0 on the season with the complete-game victory. The right-hander allowed just one unearned run on five hits with one walk and one strikeout, getting 12 fly outs and eight ground outs in the win.

Sophomore Shreya Ashok had her sixth game with at least three hits this season, going 3-for-4 with a walk, a run, and one RBI as part of St. Olaf's 10-hit attack. Seven Oles had at least one hit in the victory.

After the Gusties took advantage of an error to score an unearned run in the first, St. Olaf wasted little time taking a lead of its own by scoring two runs in the top of the second. With runners on the corners and two outs, Ashok beat out an infield single to tie the game and Patty followed with an RBI single of her own to put the Oles on top.

Still leading 2-1 in the fourth, St. Olaf tacked on two insurance runs on just one hit to extend its lead to 4-1. Ashok and Patty got on with one out via a single and a walk before an error allowed Ashok to score from second. Later in the inning, Grismer drew a bases-loaded for the final run of the game.

J. Peschel escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the next half inning by getting a foul out to first and went on to retire the final eight batters of the game. The complete game was the sophomore's third of the season and lowered her team-leading ERA to 1.94.