ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team fell one victory shy of the first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs title in program history, topping the College of Saint Benedict by a 7-4 margin in the semifinals before falling 5-0 to No. 12-ranked Bethel University in the championship game on Saturday afternoon at Ona Orth Athletic Complex.

As the No. 2 seed, St. Olaf (24-18) began the day by facing No. 3 seed Saint Ben's (28-8) in the semifinals and advanced to the championship game with a 7-4 victory behind a tie-breaking two-run single by sophomore Hannah Peschel in the fifth inning. Facing a quick turnaround for the championship game, the Oles were shut out for the first time since late February, as Kayla Simacek threw a five-hit shutout to pitch Bethel (33-4) to its first MIAC Playoffs title.

With the win, the Royals secured the MIAC's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. St. Olaf was making its fourth-straight appearance in the MIAC Playoffs and was in the tournament for the sixth time in program history. The Oles saw their season come to an end after compiling their fifth 20-win season in a row under head coach Kayla Hatting.

St. Olaf 7, Saint Ben's 4 | Box Score

To start the day, St. Olaf got past Saint Ben's in the semifinals by breaking a 4-4 tie with two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth. Peschel delivered the key hit with the tie-breaking two-run single and junior Maya Patty added an insurance run with a run-scoring single in the sixth.

The top of the lineup did most of the damage for the Oles in the game, as St. Olaf's top-five hitters were a combined 8-for-13 with six runs and seven RBI. Sophomore Shreya Ashok was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, Patty went 2-for-4 with two runs and one RBI, while Peschel, junior Andrea Conway, and senior Tarah DeCroock each drove in two runs.

Sophomore Jaelyn Orth went the distance in the circle to earn her 11th victory of the season, allowing four runs on seven hits with four walks and nine strikeouts. The Bennies got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the seventh before Orth sealed the win with her ninth strikeout of the game.

Saint Ben's scratched across a run in the top of the first on a leadoff single by Gabby Spencer and three-straight two-out walks to get on the board early. St. Olaf responded quickly in the next half inning on a two-out RBI single by Conway that scored Ashok, who started the game by getting hit by a pitch.

The Oles took a short-lived 4-1 lead with three runs in the third before the Bennies got three runs in the top of the fourth to tie the game once again. Back-to-back one-out singles by Ashok and Patty put two on for DeCroock, who brought them both in on a two-run triple that got by an on-rushing CSB left fielder. Conway drove in her second run of the game with a ground out to score DeCroock and cap the three-run inning.

Saint Ben's strung together four-straight one-out singles and took advantage of a throwing error on one of them to tie the game in the next half inning. With the score still tied at 4-4, Peschel dropped a two-run single into right field in the bottom of the fifth to score Conway and Patty with two unearned runs after CSB committed two errors earlier in the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Oles filled the bases with nobody out on a walk and two singles and, two batters later, Patty gave St. Olaf an insurance run with a run-scoring single to right. The Bennies got back-to-back two-out singles in the top of the seventh to bring the tying run to the plate but did not score.

No. 12 Bethel 5, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

Both teams had just five hits in the championship game, but Bethel capitalized on a pair of St. Olaf errors to score two runs in the first and three in the fifth and Simacek took care of the rest to pitch the Royals into the NCAA Tournament. Simacek scattered five hits and allowed two walks with just one strikeout after entering the game with 294 strikeouts on the season.

Bethel gave Simacek the only runs she would need by scoring twice without a hit in the bottom of the first, scoring thanks to a hit batter, a stolen base, a walk, a throwing error, a wild pitch, and a sacrifice fly. The Royals added three more unearned runs in the fifth inning to give Simacek some breathing room.

St. Olaf put at least one runner on base in every inning except the second in the game but could not find a way to score. The Oles got their first two runners on base in the sixth but they did not advance any further. In the seventh, St. Olaf loaded the bases with nobody out before a fly-ball double play helped Bethel preserve the shutout.

Orth suffered the loss despite allowing just one earned run (five runs) on four hits over the first five innings, walking four and striking out five. Fifth-year senior Abby Grismer worked a scoreless sixth inning.