GEORGETOWN, Texas – The St. Olaf College softball team swept Southwestern University by scores of 4-2 in eight innings and 10-6 in the first-ever meetings between the programs on Tuesday at Taylor-Sanders Field.

Senior Elle Brandt homered in both games, including a tie-breaking two-run blast in the eighth inning of the opener, to power St. Olaf (7-3) past Southwestern (10-10). Senior Roxanne Ring threw all eight innings in the opener before the Oles scored six runs in the sixth to claim a come-from-behind win and complete the sweep of the Pirates.

St. Olaf will face third-ranked Texas Lutheran University in a 5/7 p.m. doubleheader on Wednesday, March 18 in Seguin, Texas.

St. Olaf 4, Southwestern 2 (8 inn.) | Box Score

Ring outdueled Southwestern's Sophia Ytuarte in game one as the two starters held the opposing offenses to one run through seven innings. The Oles finally broke the deadlock on Brandt's two-run home run in a three-run eighth and held off the Pirates in the bottom of the frame.

Ring moved to 5-0 on the season by holding Southwestern to two runs (one earned) on five hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in her third complete game of the season. Ytuarte matched Ring through seven innings before giving up three in the eighth.

Brandt was one of three Oles with multi-hit games in the win, going 2-for-4 with an RBI single in addition to the two-run shot. First years Hannah Yaeger and Joy Jung were both 2-for-4, with Jung also drawing a walk.

Southwestern jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, taking advantage of a leadoff double to score on a sacrifice fly two batters later. St. Olaf used a leadoff double from junior Rylan Nakamura to tie the game in the top of the third. After Nakamura's double, junior Regan Zak moved her classmate to third before Brandt singled up the middle to bring in Nakamura. Brandt was thrown out at the plate on a single by Yaeger to end the frame and keep the score tied at 1-1.

With the teams still locked in a 1-1 tie, Brandt sent a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left center for her first home run of the day to bring in Zak – the international tiebreaker runner – to give the Oles a 3-1 lead. Later in the inning, Jung delivered a two-out, run-scoring single to add an insurance run to the lead.

The Pirates got their runner around in the bottom of the inning on a two-out single by Daniella Clark, but Ring got her seventh strikeout of the game to end the game with the tying run at the plate.

St. Olaf 10, Southwestern 6 | Box Score

After a pitchers' duel in game one, the two teams combined for 16 runs on 24 hits in game two, but St. Olaf used a decisive six-run sixth to turn a 5-4 deficit into a 10-5 lead. Brandt hit another two-run home run in the sixth inning and was one of five Oles with multi-hit performances in the victory.

Zak tallied a team-high three hits, going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI, while Brandt, Yaeger, Nakamura, and junior Eva Hokanson had two hits apiece. Brandt went 2-for-4 with a walk, a run scored, and four RBI, while Nakamura also got on base three times by going 2-for-3 with a walk, a stolen base, a run scored, and an RBI.

After sophomore Amelia Burns worked the first 2.2 innings, senior Madyn Singleton picked up her second win of the season by yielding just two runs on seven hits with one walk and three strikeouts over the final 4.1 innings in the circle.

Brandt got the Oles out to a 2-0 lead with a two-out, two-run single after coming to the plate with the bases loaded in the top of the second. St. Olaf strung together three consecutive two-hit singles in the third to add a run to its lead in the third.

Southwestern took the lead with four runs in the bottom of the third, but a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jung with the bases loaded and one out in the next half inning quickly tied it at 4-4. The Pirates reclaimed a one-run lead in the home half of the fifth, but Singleton escaped further damage by leaving the bases loaded after getting a force out at home and a strikeout to limit the hosts to one run in the frame.

St. Olaf's first six batters of the top of the sixth all reached base, five via a hit, to ignite the six-run inning. After Zak singled to start the frame, Brandt hit her fourth home run of the season – her second of the day – to left center to give the Oles the lead for good. Jung, Hokanson, and Zak added RBI singles later in the inning.

Southwestern chipped away at its deficit with one run in the sixth and got one runner on in the seventh before Singleton finished off the sweep.