ROCHESTER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team closed out the indoor portion of its season by splitting its two games on Saturday at the Rochester Dome.

St. Olaf (5-1) started the day by getting a four-hit shutout from sophomore Roxanne Ring in a 2-0 victory over Grinnell College (1-4-) to move to 5-0 to start a season for the first time in program history. The Oles saw their unbeaten start come to an end with a 4-1 loss to UW-La Crosse (3-3) to close out the day.

After a break of over two weeks, St. Olaf is next in action with a doubleheader at Central College on Wednesday, March 20. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. in Pella, Iowa.

St. Olaf 2, Grinnell 0 | Box Score

Ring ran her record on the season to 3-0 and lowered her ERA to 0.33 through three starts by tossing a four-hit shutout to start the day. The sophomore allowed just two walks and struck out one in the shutout.

Two Grinnell pitchers limited St. Olaf to three hits in the game, but the Oles scratched across two runs in the bottom of the first for the lone runs of the game. With runners on first and second and one out, Ring flied out to center, but an error by the Pioneers allowed both runners to come around and score.

Grinnell put together its biggest scoring threat in the next half inning, filling the bases with two outs to get its leadoff hitter to the plate. Ring got out of the jam, however, by recording her only strikeout of the game. The Pioneers put runners on first and third with only one out in the sixth, but Ring got a ground out and a pop up to the circle to escape trouble.

Ring, junior Medora Rylee, and sophomore Madyn Singleton had one hit apiece in the win for the Oles.

UW-La Crosse 4, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

St. Olaf's bats went silent in game two as three UW-La Crosse pitchers threw a combined no-hitter to deal the Oles their first loss of the season. Senior Jenna Peschel threw 4.1 scoreless innings of relief for St. Olaf in the loss, allowing just five hits with no walks and three strikeouts.

The Eagles jumped on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first, but the Oles answered quickly in the next half inning to tie the game. After a walk and a hit batter to start the frame, junior Amelia Christenson moved up both runners with a sacrifice bunt, and fifth-year senior Maya Patty drove in St. Olaf's lone run of the game with a ground ball to second.

UW-La Crosse responded by scoring three runs in the bottom of the second for the final scoring of the game. The Eagles got back-to-back, run-scoring hits with two outs in the inning, including a two-run triple to right by Kyra Lard.
St. Olaf threatened to chip away at its deficit in the top of the fourth by filling the bases with two outs but was unable to push across a run. Brynne Bieri earned the victory for UW-La Crosse with 3.1 innings of no-hit relief, walking one and striking out four.