ST. PAUL, Minn. – Junior Roxanne Ring's fourth consecutive shutout in game one helped the St. Olaf College softball team clinch its seventh Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Playoff berth in a row with a 2-0 win and a 2-1 eight-inning loss against Macalester College on Sunday afternoon at Macalester Softball Complex.

Ring became the first Ole pitcher to throw four shutouts in a row this century with a one-hitter to lead St. Olaf (21-15, 12-8 MIAC) to the 2-0 victory in game one. Tess Bojorquez outdueled fifth-year senior Jaelyn Orth and hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth in game two for Macalester (24-14, 11-9).

The Oles entered the day needing two wins from their final four games or a win and one loss by Concordia-Moorhead to secure a playoff spot. The game-one win and the Cobbers' loss to Carleton College in the opener of their twinbill locked up the seventh playoff berth in row for St. Olaf, which will be the No. 3, No. 4, or No. 5 seed in the six-team tournament. The Oles are tied with Bethel University for third place, one game ahead of Macalester, with two games remaining.

St. Olaf will try and secure a home playoff game when it closes out the regular season by hosting Concordia-Moorhead for Senior Day on Saturday, May 3. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Mabel Shirley Field.

St. Olaf 2, Macalester 0 | Box Score

Ring tossed her fourth shutout in a row by limiting Macalester to one hit and one walk with three strikeouts to improve to 11-3 on the season. The junior has allowed just eight hits and three walks over 26.0 innings over her last four starts. Ring's scoreless streak of 27.1 innings it he longest since Julie Graf '21 had a run of 34.0 consecutive shutout innings as a first year from April 20-28, 2017.

St. Olaf got all the offense it needed with single runs off of Martha Miller in the fourth and fifth innings. Miller went the distance in the circle for the Scots, surrendering two runs (both earned) on eight hits with no walks and no strikeouts. A day after becoming the Oles' all-time leader in career hits, fifth-year senior Shreya Ashok was 2-for-4 with a run scored, while senior Medora Rylee was 2-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI.

Ring helped her own cause with a run-scoring single after coming to the plate with runners on the corners and one out in the top of the fourth. Rylee started the inning with a single, got to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior Amelia Christenson, and got to third on a single by sophomore Eva Hokanson. The Oles had a chance to do more damage in the inning with runners on second and third with one out, but a double play on a pop-up bunt ended the inning.

St. Olaf did add to its lead in the top of the fifth by stringing together three consecutive two-out singles. After Ashok and sophomore Regan Zak prolonged the inning with hits, Rylee lined a single to left to score Ashok and make it 2-0. Ring retired the final 10 batters she faced after a two-out walk in the fourth.

Macalester 2, St. Olaf 1 (8 inn.) | Box Score

Bojorquez held St. Olaf to one run over an eight-inning complete game and drove a walk-off single to center after coming up with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the eighth for Macalester. The Oles doubled up the Scots in hits, 8-4, but were unable to get a timely hit outside of Rylee's two-out RBI single in the fifth.

Orth kept Macalester to two runs (one earned) on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts over 7.2 innings in the second-longest start of her five-year career, but Bojorquez worked around eight hits and three walks with two strikeouts over 8.0 innings for the Scots. Zak and junior Abby Nevin had two hits apiece for St. Olaf, with Nevin also drawing a walk and scoring a run.

Macalester scratched across a run in the bottom of the first on a leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt, a ground out, and a wild pitch. In the top of the third, the Oles loaded the bases with one out but did not score after a force play at home and a fly ball ended the frame.

St. Olaf got its lone run of the game in the top of the fifth after picking up three hits in the inning. Nevin led off with a single and was still at first until Zak reached on an infield hit with two outs. Rylee followed with a single to center that scored Nevin to tie the game at 1-1. Orth kept the game tied by leaving two runners in scoring position in the next half inning.

In the eighth, Hokanson singled to left in the first at bat before being lifted for first year Elizabeth Jennison, who quickly stole second to put runners on first and third with nobody out for the Oles. Bojorquez was able to get out of the inning unscathed after inducing a shallow fly ball, a pop up, and a fly ball to leave two runners in scoring position.

Macalester had its runner on third with two outs in the bottom of the eighth before back-to-back walks loaded the bases for Bojorquez, who lined a single over the head of an Ole outfielder with the outfield playing shallow to try and prevent a sacrifice fly.