MANKATO, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team began its season by splitting games against Bethany Lutheran and Crown College on Saturday morning at the Bethany Kwik Trip Invitational at the MSU Dome.

Five errors plagued St. Olaf (1-1) in a 7-2 loss to Bethany Lutheran (2-0) to start the day, but the Oles rebounded with a run-rule victory over Crown (1-1) in their second game of the day. Junior Eva Hokanson drove in four of St. Olaf's nine runs on the day.
The Oles will be back in Mankato on Saturday, Feb. 21 for games against UW-River Falls (8 a.m.) and Dominican University (10:30 a.m.).

Bethany Lutheran 7, St. Olaf 2 | Box Score

Bethany Lutheran scored in each of the first three innings and took advantage of five St. Olaf to top the Oles in the season opener for both teams. Emily Meyer limited St. Olaf to five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in a complete-game win for the Vikings.

Bethany Lutheran scored once in the first, twice in the second, and once more in the third to build a 4-0 lead before St. Olaf chipped away at its deficit with runs in the fourth and sixth to get within two. In the fourth, senior Elle Brandt led off with a double, stole third, and scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Hokanson.

Two innings later, junior Kyra Narum started the bottom of the sixth with a single up the middle, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and a ground ball, and scored on a two-out single by first year Joy Jung. After seeing its lead cut to 4-2, Bethany Lutheran scored three runs on just one hit in the top of the seventh to establish a five-run cushion and held off the Oles, who got two runners on in the bottom of the seventh.

St. Olaf 9, Crown 1 (5 inn.) | Box Score

After both teams scored a run in the first inning, St. Olaf put together multi-run innings in the third, fourth, and fifth to defeat Crown in the first meeting between the two programs in 20 years. Senior Belle Schmidt got on three times and scored three runs, while Hokanson drove in three of the Oles' seven runs.

Senior Roxanne Ring picked up the win in her first start of the season, holding the Polars to one run on three hits with no walks and five strikeouts over the first 4.0 frames. First year Sophia Grace Aquino tossed a scoreless fifth inning in her collegiate debut.

Schmidt led off the game with a single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Hokanson, but Crown got the run back in the bottom of the inning. The Oles broke the 1-1 tie with four runs in the top of the third, with Brandt and first year Hannah Yaeger delivering RBI triples and senior Abby Nevin adding a run-scoring single.

Hokanson doubled in two more runs with two outs in the fourth to make it 7-1. In the fifth, St. Olaf strung together three consecutive hits after the first two batters of the inning were retired, with junior Rylan Nakamura singling in a run before Nakamura and first year Izzy Barrera executed a double steal to allow Barrera to score.