NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team scored three times late to record a 3-2 victory in game two after the College of Saint Benedict won game one, 7-1, in a doubleheader split on Wednesday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field.

Ellie Peterson held St. Olaf (12-10, 3-3 MIAC) to one run in a complete-game effort in the circle in the opener for Saint Ben's (12-10, 4-2 MIAC). Game two was headed in a similar direction, as Olivia Wallace kept the Oles scoreless until St. Olaf scored twice in the fifth and once more in the sixth to claim the come-from-behind victory. The game-two win snapped the Bennies' six-game winning streak in the series between the two teams going back to 2023. St. Olaf has dropped game one and won game two in all three of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) doubleheaders this season.

St. Olaf will travel to Duluth to face the College of St. Scholastica for a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday, April 12 before hosting No. 22-ranked Saint Mary's University the following day at 1 p.m.

Saint Ben's 7, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

Peterson limited St. Olaf to one run on seven hits with three walks and two strikeouts to pitch Saint Ben's to the win in the opener. Megan Erickson and Cat Smetana also homered in the victory for the visitors, who scored in four consecutive innings from the second through the fifth.

Fifth-year senior Jaelyn Orth drove in the lone run of the game for the Oles with a second-inning double and went the distance in the circle. Orth yielded seven runs (five earned) on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Fifth-year senior Shreya Ashok and sophomore Regan Zak had two hits apiece as well.

Erickson's one-out solo shot in the second gave Saint Ben's the lead, but St. Olaf got the run back in the bottom of the inning. Senior Medora Rylee led off with an infield hit and came around to score when Orth line a double to the gap in right center to bring in Rylee.

The Bennies got a two-out, two-run single from Addy Bowne in the top of the third to take the lead for good before adding two runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth. Saint Ben's left just three runners on base in the game, compared to nine for St. Olaf

St. Olaf 3, Saint Ben's 2 | Box Score

Saint Ben's jumped out to a 2-0 lead in game two and held the lead until St. Olaf scored twice in the fifth to tie it up. After hitting a grand slam in game two on Tuesday, junior Elle Brandt broke the tie with a two-out, run-scoring double to deep center field in the sixth.

Rylee was the lone Ole with multiple hits in game two, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI. Ashok got on base twice, going 1-for-2 with a walk and a run scored, while Zak and sophomore Rylan Nakamura both had a hit and scored a run.

Juniors Madyn Singleton and Roxanne Ring combined to hold Saint Ben's to two runs on six hits for St. Olaf. Singleton received a no-decision after giving up two runs in 3.0 innings of work before Ring ran her record to 7-1 by tossing 4.0 innings of one-hit shutout relief.

The Bennies jumped on Singleton with three hits in the top of the first, but Singleton limited the damage to one run in the inning. The Oles threatened to put runs on the board in the bottom of the inning, but Erickson made a diving catch in left field on a line drive off the bat of sophomore Eva Hokanson for the second out after Hokanson came up with runners on first and second and one out.

Lauren Freeberg led off the top of the third with a solo home run to push Saint Ben's lead to 2-0, but that was the final run the Bennies got. Ring stranded two runners on base in the top of the fifth before St. Olaf generated its first of two two-out rallies to tie the game.

After the first two batters of the bottom of the fifth were retired, Zak reached on an infield single and Ashok walked before Rylee doubled off the glove of a lunging Erickson in left field to bring in both runners. The bottom of the sixth was a similar story, as the first two batters got out before Nakamura singled with two outs and scored on Brandt's decisive double. Ring retired the final eight CSB hitters in the game, including an eight-pitch 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh.