NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team saw its eight-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) winning streak come to an end with 3-0 and 9-5 losses to eighth-ranked Bethel University on Sunday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field.

Kayla Simacek threw a two-hit shutout to pitch Bethel (21-3, 10-0 MIAC) to the 3-0 victory in game one and also went the distance in game two to claim her 20th victory of the season. St. Olaf (14-16, 8-4 MIAC) got home runs from junior Hannah Peschel and fifth-year senior Tarah DeCroock in game two, but the Royals used four multi-run innings to complete the sweep.

The Oles look to bounce back with a second doubleheader in as many days when they head across town to take on Carleton College on Monday, April 24 starting at 3:30 p.m.

No. 8 Bethel 3, St. Olaf 0 | Box Score

Simacek held St. Olaf to a pair of singles while walking three and striking out six in the opener. Junior Jenna Peschel matched Simacek over the first four innings before the Royals got a run in the fifth and two in the sixth.

Peschel took the loss despite throwing a complete game, yielding three runs on eight hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Sophomore Medora Rylee and first year Belle Schmidt had the lone hits of the game for the Oles.

Schmidt singled in the third and Rylee led off the fourth with a single for St. Olaf, but Simacek got out of trouble in both innings to keep the game scoreless. Bethel gave Simacek the lone run she would need on a two-out RBI single by Jordyn Rudolph in the top of the fifth, with the run scoring on an obstruction call at the plate after the throw beat the runner.

The Royals tacked on two insurance runs in the top of the sixth on back-to-back run-scoring hits by Autumn Earney and Izzy Wilhelm. Simacek took care of the rest by finishing off her eighth shutout of the season.

No. 8 Bethel 9, St. Olaf 5 | Box Score

Bethel jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a pair of first-inning runs and led the rest of the way to secure the sweep. Hannah Peschel hit an inside-the-park solo home run in the first for St. Olaf, which also got a three-run home run in the fifth from DeCroock.

Hannah Peschel and fellow junior Anne Fossum had two hits apiece in the loss, as Peschel scored twice and Fossum scored a run of her own. Bethel outhit St. Olaf by a 12-8 margin and stole nine bases in the win.

After the Royals plated two runs in the first, Peschel got the Oles on the board for the first time on the day with an inside-the-park home run to right field that just evaded a diving Rudolph near the foul line. The home run was the first of the season for Peschel and the fourth of her career.

Bethel extended its lead to 4-1 with a pair of runs in the third, but St. Olaf hung around by getting one of the runs back in the fourth when Peschel scored on an error by the Bethel center fielder after singling to start the inning.

The Royals answered right back with two runs in the top of the fifth when five of the first six Bethel batters reached in the frame. Both teams scored three runs in the seventh inning to close out the scoring.

Bethel's three-run seventh gave the visitors a 9-2 lead before St. Olaf got a three-run home run from DeCroock while down to its final out in the bottom of the inning. After the first two batters of the inning were retired, Fossum and senior Annie Landon hit back-to-back singles and DeCroock followed with her eighth-career home run – her second of the season – to left. DeCroock's eighth home runs rank 10th in program history, while her three RBI moved up into a tie for eighth all-time at St. Olaf with 84 for her career.