NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team suffered 8-3 and 6-5 losses to UW-La Crosse in its home opener on Thursday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field.
UW-La Crosse (11-7) scored all eight of its runs in the middle innings of game one and broke a 3-3 tie with two runs in the third inning in game two to sweep St. Olaf (7-9). The sweep gave the Eagles five wins in the last six meetings between the two programs since 2023.
With their non-conference schedule complete, the Oles will open Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play with a trip to Concordia-Moorhead for a 3/5 p.m. doubleheader on Tuesday, March 31.
UW-La Crosse 8, St. Olaf 3 | Box Score
After UW-La Crosse jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the third, St. Olaf scored three runs in the home half of the inning, but the Eagles held the Oles scoreless the rest of the way to take the opener. UW-La Crosse added a run to its lead in the fourth and three more in the fifth to finish off the five-run win.
Senior
Elle Brandt was the lone Ole with multiple hits, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run in the loss. Four other Oles had one hit apiece, with first year
Hannah Yaeger and junior
Eva Hokanson knocking in runs with their hits.
Sophomore
Amelia Burns held UW-La Crosse scoreless over the final 2.1 innings after taking over for senior
Madyn Singleton. Claire Springer and Carmen Follette combined for 4.1 innings of scoreless relief for the Eagles after the Oles jumped on Brynne Bieri with three runs in the third.
The visitors got on the board first with a four-spot in the top of the third after stringing together four consecutive two-out hits in the inning. St. Olaf got three of the runs back in the bottom of the inning, with all three coming after the first two batters were retired.
Brandt hit her fifth home run of the season – a solo shot – to left for the first run of the inning. Junior
Regan Zak followed with an infield single before scoring on a double to right by Yaeger. Hokanson made it a one-run game with a single to center for the fourth Ole hit in a row.
UW-La Crosse tacked on a run in the top of the fourth and three more in the top of the fifth to build a five-run cushion. Springer and Follette took care of the rest by retiring the final seven St. Olaf hitters of the game.
UW-La Crosse 6, St. Olaf 5 | Box Score
St. Olaf rallied from a pair of multiple-run deficits early to tie the game at 5-5 after three innings, but Josie Flom broke the tie with a fifth-inning solo home run that proved to be the winning run. Follette again shut down the Oles late, throwing 4.0 scoreless innings as the fourth Eagle pitcher in game two.
First year
Joy Jung, first year
Sophia Grace Aquino, and junior
Rylan Nakamura tallied two hits apiece to combine for six of St. Olaf's 10 hits in the loss. Nakamura was 2-for-3 with a walk, two doubles, and three RBI, Aquino went 2-for-4 with a double, a run scored, and one RBI, while Jung was 2-for-4 with one RBI. St. Olaf stranded 11 runners on base in the game.
After the Eagles scored three times after the second out of the top of the first, Jung drove in St. Olaf's first run of the game with a two-out single in the bottom of the inning to leave the Oles down 3-1 after one. Senior
Abby Nevin, Aquino, and Nakamura strung together three consecutive doubles with one out in the bottom second to tie the game at 3-3. St. Olaf had the bases loaded with one out in the inning but was unable to break the tie.
UW-La Crosse went back ahead with two runs in the top of the third, but St. Olaf answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning to quickly tie it back up. With the bases loaded and one out, Nakamura laced a double to right field to score two runs and leave runners on second and third with one out, but the Oles again couldn't push across the go-ahead run.
Flom clubbed a solo home run to straight-away center field with one out in the top of the fifth for the decisive run. In the bottom of the fifth, Jung bounced a single up the middle with two outs and runners on first and second, but Nakamura was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
