MANKATO, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team got complete-game efforts from seniors
Roxanne Ring and
Madyn Singleton while picking up a 4-2 win over UW-River Falls and an 8-0 five-inning victory over Dominican University on Saturday morning at the Maverick All-Sports Dome.
Ring pitched St. Olaf (3-1) to the 4-2 win over UW-River Falls (1-3) before Singleton followed with a four-hit shutout against Dominican (0-2) as the Oles finished the Bethany Kwik Invitational with a 3-1 record over the last two Saturdays. St. Olaf has held its opponents to three runs in 17 innings over its last three games.
The Oles will match up with UW-Platteville (3:30 p.m.) and Buena Vista University (5:30 p.m.) on Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Rochester Regional Stadium & Bubble.
St. Olaf 4, UW-River Falls 2 | Box Score
St. Olaf scored twice in the third and fifth innings to build a 4-0 lead and held off UW-River Falls in the first meeting between the two programs since 2019. The Oles have won the last four games with the Falcons going back to 2013.
Senior
Elle Brandt and junior
Eva Hokanson had two hits and two RBI apiece, with Hokanson recording a two-run single in the third and Brandt a two-run home run in the fifth. Ring took care of the rest, holding UW-River Falls to two runs (one earned) on four hits with one walk and three strikeouts in the complete-game win to move to 2-0 on the season.
St. Olaf got on the board first in the bottom of the third when Hokanson drove a two-out, two-run single up the middle to score junior
Regan Zak and senior
Belle Schmidt. Zak joined Brandt and Hokanson with two hits in the win, while Schmidt was 1-for-3 with two runs scored.
Zak led off the fifth with an infield hit before Schmidt hit into a fielder's choice to leave a runner on first with one out for Brandt, who clobbered a two-run home run to left on the first pitch for the seventh home run of her career to make it 4-0.
UW-River Falls halved its deficit in the sixth by capitalizing on an error after the Falcons loaded the bases with one out. Ring limited the damage to two runs by getting a strikeout and a grounder back to the circle to leave runners on the corners. Ring went on to set the Falcons down in order in the seventh.
St. Olaf 8, Dominican 0 (5 inn.) | Box Score
In the first-ever meeting between the two programs, Singleton limited the Stars to four hits with one walk and one strikeout over a five-inning complete game to pick up her first victory of the season. Nine Oles had at least one hit offensively in the win.
First year
Joy Jung and senior
Abby Nevin had two hits apiece, with Nevin going 2-for-2 with a walk, one run scored, and one RBI. Junior
Jill Arp joined Jung with two RBI, while junior
Kyra Narum reached base three times by going 1-for-1 with two walks, a double, and a run scored.
St. Olaf give Singleton the only run she would need in the bottom of the first, starting the inning with three consecutive walks before Arp knocked in a run with a sacrifice fly. The Oles added two runs to their lead in the second, scoring on an RBI single by Brandt and an error by Dominican.
In the fourth, St. Olaf extended its lead to 8-0 by scoring five runs on seven hits for the final runs of the game. With runners on second and third and one out, Arp singled in Narum for the first run of the inning before Jung plated another run with a single. Singleton helped her own cause with a two-run triple in the inning before Nevin capped the frame with an RBI single. The Oles also stole three bases in the frame.
