DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team and the College of St. Scholastica split two low-scoring, one-run games, with the Oles picking up a 2-1 win in the opener before the Saints won game two, 1-0, in eight innings on Saturday afternoon at Kenny Harkins Field.

St. Olaf (13-11, 4-4 MIAC) got a complete-game performance from fifth-year senior Jaelyn Orth and run-producing hits from senior Medora Rylee and sophomore Eva Hokanson in the sixth inning to take game one. Ashley Matejka threw a three-hit shutout for St. Scholastica (5-17, 1-5 MIAC) in game two, as the Saints finally put a run on the board on a two-out RBI single by Katelyn Hackman in the eighth inning.

The Oles, who have split each of their first four Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) doubleheaders of the season, will host No. 22-ranked Saint Mary's University in a twin bill starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 13.

St. Olaf 2, St. Scholastica 1 | Box Score

Orth recorded her fourth win of the season by holding St. Scholastica to one run on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts in the seven-inning complete game for St. Olaf. The Oles outhit the Saints by an 8-5 margin but were forced to wait until the sixth inning to get on the board after the Saints got on the board first in the fourth.

Hokanson and fifth-year senior Shreya Ashok had two hits apiece for St. Olaf, which got seven of its eight hits from the top-five spots in its lineup. Aleah Shogren took the hard-luck loss for St. Scholastica despite limiting the Oles to two runs on eight hits with two walks and three strikeouts in a complete-game performance.

The Saints scored their lone run of the game by getting a single and a double in the first three at bats of the bottom of the fourth, but Orth left the one-out double at second to minimize the damage. In the fifth, Orth got a strikeout and a pop up to get out of the inning after St. Scholastica got a runner to third with one out.

Sophomore Regan Zak and Ashok recorded singles and stolen bases with one out in the top of the sixth to put two runners in scoring position for Rylee, who singled to right center to score Zak and tie the game. Hokanson followed with a single to left center to score Ashok for the eventual game-winning run. Senior Amelia Christenson followed with a single to load the bases with still just one out, but St. Olaf could not add to its lead.

In the top of the seventh, the Oles put two runners on with nobody out, but Shogren kept the score at 2-1 thanks, in part, to a line-drive double play back to the circle. St. Scholastica got two base runners of its own with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before the game ended on an interference call on a runner going to second on a ground ball.

St. Scholastica 1, St. Olaf 0 (8 inn.) | Box Score

Matejka tossed a three-hit shutout with three walks and one strikeout to pitch St. Scholastica to the game-two victory. She out-dueled the combination of juniors Madyn Singleton and Roxanne Ring, who allowed just seven hits with one walk and five strikeouts for St. Olaf.

Singleton received a no-decision after striking out a season-high four batters over 4.2 innings of three-hit ball. St. Scholastica took advantage of the international tiebreaker to score an unearned run in the eighth, as Ring gave up four hits with no walks and one strikeout over her 3.0 innings in the circle.

Zak, Ashok, and junior Elle Brandt had one hit apiece for the Oles in the loss. St. Olaf got a runner in scoring position in three of the first five innings but could not score, as Zak was thrown out at the plate to end the top of the fifth after trying to score from second on a single up the middle by Ashok.

With the game still scoreless, Brandt advanced the runner to third in the first at bat of the top of the eighth, but St. Olaf was unable to get the run in. Ring got a strikeout and a ground out to first in the bottom of the inning before Hackman singled in the winning run from third.