NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team improved to 7-1 in its last eight games by sweeping Hamline University by scores of 12-1 and 7-5 in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play on Saturday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field.

St. Olaf (18-12, 9-5 MIAC) used back-to-back five-run innings to down Hamline (14-14, 4-10 MIAC) via the run rule in game one. The Oles used three home runs to build a 7-2 lead in the nightcap and held off the Pipers to complete the sweep.

The two wins preserved St. Olaf's unbeaten home record as the Oles have swept all three of their MIAC opponents at Mabel Shirley Field this season. St. Olaf hit .472 (25-for-53) and got on base at a .509 clip as a team in the sweep.

As part of a celebration of 50 years of Ole softball, St. Olaf invited back members of its five MIAC Championship teams (1985, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2021) and recognized those in attendance on the field between the two games. The Oles will head across town to face Carleton College on Tuesday, April 23 at 3:30/5:30 p.m.

St. Olaf 12, Hamline 1 (5 inn.) | Box Score

After taking a 2-1 lead after the first inning, St. Olaf scored five runs in the third and five more in the fourth on its way to the run-rule win in game one. The Oles pounded 15 hits in just four innings at the plate, with all nine St. Olaf starters tallying at least one hit.

Juniors Medora Rylee and Amelia Christenson both had three-hit efforts to pace St. Olaf. Rylee was 3-for-4 with a run scored, while Christenson was 3-for-3 with two doubles, a run scored, and two RBI. Fifth-year senior Maya Patty was 2-for-2 with a double, a walk, two runs scored, and two RBI.

For the second time in three days, senior Jaelyn Orth logged a complete-game effort in the circle and hit a home run. The senior limited the Pipers to an unearned run on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts over the five-inning complete game and added a fourth-inning grand slam to cap the scoring.

Hamline got on the board first in the top of the first, but St. Olaf answered with two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning. After Rylee and senior Shreya Ashok started the game with back-to-back singles for the Oles, senior Hannah Peschel put down a bunt that resulted in a throwing error that allowed Rylee to score and Ashok to get to third. Peschel came in to score on Christenson's one-out single to left center to give St. Olaf the lead.

The Oles broke the game open with five runs on six hits in the bottom of the third as five consecutive hitters reached to start the inning. Christenson drove in the first run of the inning with a double and senior Anne Fossum and Patty followed with a run-scoring single and a run-scoring double. Fossum and patty scored later in the inning on back-to-back wild pitches.

St. Olaf tallied five more runs on five hits in the home half of the fourth. With runners on second and third and one out, Patty dropped a single into shallow center field to score Peschel. After first year Eva Hokanson singled to fill the bases, Orth blasted her third home run of the season well over the fence in left-center field for the first grand slam of her career. Three of Orth's six hits this season have been home runs.

Hamline loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth, but Orth got a ground out to first to end her third complete game of the season. The win ran Orth's record to 6-2 this season, with the six wins being the most on the team.

St. Olaf 7, Hamline 5 | Box Score

Hokanson, Christenson, and Peschel all homered in game two to power St. Olaf to the sweep. The three home runs accounted for six of the Oles' seven runs in the game. Josephine Carriveau hit a three-run home run for the Pipers in the fifth to make it a two-run game, but the visitors could not get any closer.

Rylee capped a 6-for-7 day at the plate by reaching base all four times, going 3-for-3 with a walk and a run scored. Hokanson was the only other Ole with multiple hits in the victory with a single and a two-run home run.

Patty put St. Olaf on top in the bottom of the first with a two-out RBI single through the left side. The fifth-year senior's hit came after wild pitch moved two Oles into scoring position. Hamline tied the game at 1-1 in the next half inning, scoring on a two-out wild pitch.

The Oles wasted little time in reclaiming the lead in the bottom of the second when Hokanson blasted her first collegiate home run to left field after senior Katie Weisheit drew a leadoff walk and got to second on a wild pitch. The Pipers got one of the runs back in the top of the third to cut their deficit to 3-2.

Christenson sent the first pitch of the bottom of the third just over the fence in straightaway center field for her second home run of the season to push St. Olaf's lead to 4-2. Peschel gave the Oles breathing room with a two-out, three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth for her third home run of the season.

Carriveau got Hamline back in the game with her three-run shot in the fifth, but senior Jenna Peschel and sophomore Roxanne Ring made the lead hold up over the final two innings. Peschel leveled her record at 3-3 on the season despite yielding five runs on nine hits over 6.0 innings in the circle, walking one and striking out two. Ring needed just seven pitches to retire the Pipers in order in the seventh for her second save of the season.