BELTON, Texas – The St. Olaf College softball team split the first doubleheader of its Texas trip, downing the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor by a 3-1 margin before dropping game two, 11-3, in five innings on Monday at Dee Dillon Field.

Senior Roxanne Ring threw a complete game and classmate Elle Brandt hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning to lead St. Olaf (5-3) to the win in game one. Mary Hardin-Baylor (10-10) scored 11 runs in the first three innings of game two in gain a split in the first-ever meetings between the two programs.

The Oles will face another first-time foe, Southwestern University, in a 3/5 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, March 17 in Georgetown, Texas.

St. Olaf 3, Mary Hardin-Baylor 1 | Box Score

Brandt backed Ring with a three-run blast in the fifth to provide all of the offense for St. Olaf to start the day. Ring moved to 4-0 on the season, scattering 10 hits to hold the Crusaders to one run with one walk and five strikeouts. The complete game was Ring's second of the season and lowered Ring's ERA to 1.24 through five appearances this season.

Brandt, first year Hannah Yaeger, and junior Kyra Narum had two hits apiece to combine for six of the Oles' eight hits in the win. First year Joy Jung and senior Belle Schmidt picked up one hit apiece.

Ring worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the bottom of the second with a strikeout and a pop up to Narum at third to keep the game scoreless. With the game still scoreless, Brandt drove a three-run home run to left field with two on and two out in the fifth for her second home run of the season. Narum led off the inning with a single and Schmidt added one two batters later to set the stage for Brandt's home run.

Ring again got out of a bases-loaded, one-out situation in the bottom of the sixth with a strikeout and a fly ball to left. Mary Hardin-Baylor got its lone run of the game in the final half inning before Ring got the final out to strand two more runners. The Crusaders left 10 runners on in the game.

Mary Hardin-Baylor 11, St. Olaf 3 (5 inn.) | Box Score

Mary Hardin-Baylor jumped on St. Olaf early in game two, scoring five times in the first, four times in the second, and twice more in the third. Jung was the lone Ole with multiple hits, reaching base all three times by going 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, and a run scored.

St. Olaf filled the bases on walks with one out in the top of the first but did not score. The hosts responded by scoring five runs after the second out of the bottom of the first. The Oles got one of the runs back in the top of the second as junior Rylan Nakamura came in to score on an error after starting the inning with a double.

All four of the Crusaders' runs in the bottom of the second also came after the second out of the frame. Trailing 9-2, St. Olaf filled the bases with nobody out in the top of the third but could not push across any runs. The hosts hit a pair of solo home runs in the bottom of the third to extend their lead to 11-2 before a sacrifice fly off the bat of junior Evan Hokanson in the fifth capped the scoring.