ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The third-seeded St. Olaf College softball team saw its season come to an end with an 8-1 loss to the second-seeded and No. 25-ranked College of Saint Benedict in the semifinals of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoffs on Saturday afternoon at Ona Orth Athletic Complex.

Saint Ben's (26-7) broke open a scoreless game with five runs in the fourth and added three more in the fifth to advance to the championship game where the Bennies will meet host and top-seeded Bethel University. St. Olaf (21-20) got an RBI single from junior Katie Weisheit in the fifth for its only run of the game.

The meeting marked the second-straight season the Oles and Bennies met in the semifinals of the MIAC Playoffs. St. Olaf won at least 20 games for the sixth-straight full season under head coach Kayla Hatting.

Ellie Peterson threw a complete game in the circle for Saint Ben's, limiting St. Olaf to just one run on two hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Both of the Oles' hits came in the fifth inning, as junior Anne Fossum led off the inning with a single before scoring on Weisheit's two-out single.

With the game still scoreless and only one hit on the board, the Bennies exploded for five runs on five hits in the bottom of the fourth, scoring on RBI hits by Cat Smetana, Jordyn Swoboda, and Brynn Carlstrom before Hannah Sundem delivered a two-out, two-run triple to cap the inning.

St. Olaf got its lone run of the game in the next half inning when Fossum led off with a single through the left side, got to second on a walk drawn by junior Hannah Peschel, and scored on a two-out single to left by Weisheit. The Bennies responded with three runs in the home half of the inning, as four-straight CSB batters reached after the first two batters of the inning were retired.

Junior Jenna Peschel took the loss after allowing three runs in three-plus innings of work for St. Olaf. First year Madyn Singleton got the final four outs for the Oles, striking out one while allowing two hits.

St. Olaf put together arguably the best offensive season in program history this spring, establishing new single-season team records in hits (385), doubles (88), total bases (524), and RBI (201). The Oles also posted top-three seasons in program history in walks (2nd, 126), slugging percentage (2nd, .440), on-base percentage (2nd, .395), batting average (3rd, .324), and runs scored (3rd, 224).