WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The St. Olaf College softball team was stymied by both UW-Stevens Point and Hope College in 4-0 and 6-1 losses at THE Spring Games on Friday at DiamondPlex Softball Complex.

To start the day, Abby Van Beek and Makenna Tkach combined for a one-hit shutout to pitch UW-Stevens Point (11-4) to a 4-0 victory over St. Olaf (4-8). In game two, fifth-year senior Tarah DeCroock homered to provide the lone offensive output of the day for the Oles in a 6-1 defeat to Hope (10-6).

St. Olaf closes out its time in Florida by facing Millikin University (8 a.m. CDT) and UW-Whitewater (10:30 a.m. CDT) on Saturday, March 25.

UW-Stevens Point 4, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

Van Beek did not allow a hit over the first 3.2 innings and Tkach yielded just one of the remainder of the game, as the duo kept St. Olaf off the scoreboard. First year Madyn Singleton went the distance in the circle for the Oles, allowing just one unearned run (four runs) on five hits.

St. Olaf's lone hit was a leadoff single by senior Andrea Conway to start the fifth and came with the Pointers holding onto a 1-0 lead. The Oles got runners on first and second with one out in the inning before junior Anne Fossum lined into a double play to end the frame.

In the next half inning, UW-Stevens Point took advantage of three St. Olaf errors to score three runs on just one hit to build a 4-0 cushion. The Pointers managed just five hits in the game, but got two apiece from Maddie Candre and Trinity Otto out of the top-two spots in the lineup.

Hope 6, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

The Flying Dutch jumped out to an early 4-0 lead with four runs in the second inning and got six innings of one-run ball from Alaina Adams. Adams struck out five and did not walk a batter in her six innings of six-hit ball.

Conway and DeCroock had two hits apiece to account for four of the Oles' seven hits in the game. Junior Jenna Peschel took the loss after allowing five runs (three earned) on eight hits over the first 4.2 innings before classmate Jaelyn Orth threw the final 2.1 innings, yielding one run on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

Hope got its bats going in the second inning, scoring four runs on five hits with the aid of an error. St. Olaf got on the board in the home half of the inning, as DeCroock hit her first home run of the season and the seventh of her career. The Flying Dutch added single runs in the fifth and sixth on RBI doubles from Haley Bennett and Peyton Benjamin.