NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team celebrated Senior Day by securing a home playoff game with 4-3 (eight innings) and 9-2 victories over Concordia-Moorhead on Saturday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field

St. Olaf (23-15, 14-8 MIAC) entered the day knowing two victories would lock up a top-four seed and a home playoff game and took care of business with the sweep of Concordia-Moorhead (20-18, 8-14 MIAC). Junior Roxanne Ring – the reigning two-time Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Pitcher of the Week threw an eight-inning complete game and delivered a walk-off single in the eighth in game one before fifth-year senior Jaelyn Orth tossed a complete game in game two.

The sweep coupled with Bethel University's two losses to the College of Saint Benedict earned the Oles the No. 3 seed in next week's MIAC Playoffs. St. Olaf will host sixth-seeded St. Catherine University in the opening round on Thursday, May 8 at 4:30 p.m. at Mabel Shirley Field.

Between the two games on Saturday, St. Olaf celebrated its four seniors – Jaelyn Orth, Medora Rylee, Shreya Ashok, and Amelia Christenson – and their families on the field. The Oles have qualified for the MIAC Playoffs in all four of Rylee and Christenson's seasons and all five of Orth and Ashok's seasons.

St. Olaf 4, Concordia-Moorhead 3 (8 inn.) | Box Score

Ring struck out a career-high 10 batters in the eight-inning complete game, allowing three runs on nine hits with just one walk in the circle. After getting her 10th strikeout to leave two Cobbers in scoring position in the top of the eighth, the junior lined a single to left to give the Oles the walk-off win in the home half of the inning.

Sophomore Regan Zak, Rylee, and junior Belle Schmidt tallied two hits apiece for St. Olaf off Concordia started Bayleigh Frye, who entered the game with a 1.26 ERA on the season. Zak was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored, while Schmidt also got on base three times by going 2-fr-2 with a double, a walk, and a run scored.

St. Olaf jumped on Frye with four consecutive singles to start the bottom of the first, with sophomore Eva Hokanson plating Ashok and Rylee with a single up the middle to cap the string of four hits in a row. Concordia scored all three of its runs in the top of the third to stake Frye to a 3-2 lead.

In a game where they put down seven sacrifice bunts, the Oles used small ball to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth. Schmidt drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore Rylan Nakamura, and scored on a squeeze bunt by junior Elle Brandt.

After the game remained tied at 3-3 heading into extra innings, Nakamura threw out a runner at the plate from second base for the second out of the top of the eighth to help Ring put up a zero. Concordia had runners on second and third with two outs before Ring got her final strikeout of the day to end the frame.

In the bottom of the eighth, Christenson advanced pinch-runner Kyra Narum to third with a sacrifice bunt before Ring lined a 1-0 pitch into left field to score Narum for the game-winning run.



St. Olaf 9, Concordia-Moorhead 2 | Box Score

St. Olaf scored five runs in the second, two in the third, and two in the fourth to build a 9-2 lead in game two and Orth took care of the rest in her eighth complete game of the season. Orth moved to 7-7 on the season after limiting the Cobbers to two runs on seven hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

All nine spots in the Oles' batting order recorded at least one hit in the game, led by a 3-for-3 effort from Christenson, who had a double, a run scored, and one RBI. Junior Abby Nevin was 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, while Brandt was 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored, and two RBI. Orth also knocked in two runs to help her own cause.

After Concordia took an early lead with a run in the first, St. Olaf put up a five-spot in the second to grab a lead it would not relinquish. The Oles had seven hits in the inning, including a run-scoring single by Nevin that was the fourth consecutive single to start the frame. Brandt and Rylee added run-scoring hits later in the frame as well.

The Cobbers chipped one run off their deficit in the top of the third, but the Oles responded with two runs in the next half inning, scoring on a fielder's choice off the bat of Orth and a two-out double by Brandt. Christenson tallied an RBI double in the fourth and Schmidt followed by knocking in a run with a groundout for the final run of the game. Concordia got a runner on in each of the final three innings, but Orth avoided any damage in each frame.