NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team dropped game one of its doubleheader against St. Catherine University by an 8-1 margin before game two was suspended due to darkness in an 8-8 tie after seven innings on Wednesday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field.

St. Catherine (17-8, 6-1 MIAC) broke open a 2-1 game with a six-run seventh inning on its way to taking game one despite a 4-for-4 performance at the plate by junior Regan Zak for St. Olaf (11-12, 4-3 MIAC). The Oles were two outs away from an 8-6 win in game two before Alexa Carlstrom hit a pinch-hit, two-run home run to tie it for the Wildcats in the top of the seventh.

Game two will be finished at a later date. After playing just for just the second time at home this season on Wednesday, St. Olaf will return to the road for a doubleheader at fourth-ranked Saint Mary's University on Thursday, April 16 starting at 3:30 p.m.

Game one was a pitchers' duel between Carlstrom and senior Roxanne Ring through six innings before the Wildcats exploded for six runs in the top of the seventh to open up an 8-1 lead. Zak had four of St. Olaf's six hits in the loss in her first-career four-hit game, giving the junior 15 hits in her last 20 at-bats (game two stats are not official until it is completed).

Carlstrom limited the Oles to one unearned run on six hits with three walks and one strikeout in the complete-game win for St. Kate's. Ring kept the Wildcats to two runs over the first six innings before the big seventh inning.

St. Kate's plated the game's first run on a two-out single by Mayci Larson in the top of the third and held the lead until the bottom of the fifth. Junior Rylan Nakamura started the Oles' fifth with a single, moved to second on a throwing error by the catcher, and scored on another throwing error that came on a bunt single by Zak. St. Olaf had the go-ahead run at third with one out in the inning but could not get Zak in.

The Wildcats took the lead right back in the next half inning, as three of the first four batters recorded hits. St. Kate's threatened for more in the inning with runners on second and third and one out, but Ring got a pair of ground balls to keep the score at 2-1. After having the bases loaded with two outs, the visitors strung together four consecutive doubles to tack on six runs in the top of the seventh and build a seven-run cushion.