NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team dealt Macalester College just its second and third Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) losses of the season by sweeping the Scots with 3-2 and 6-4 wins on Tuesday afternoon at Mabel Shirley Field.
St. Olaf (15-14, 8-5 MIAC) recorded its second consecutive home sweep with the two wins over Macalester (19-12, 10-3 MIAC), as senior
Roxanne Ring held the Scots to two unearned runs in 10.1 innings of work to pick up the win in both games. The sweep gave the Oles 14 wins in the last 16 meetings between the two programs since 2018.
St. Olaf will be back at Mabel Shirley Field on Saturday, April 25 for a 1 p.m. first pitch against Hamline University on Senior Day.
St. Olaf 3, Macalester 2 | Box Score
St. Olaf took advantage of three Macalester errors in game one, as Ring outdueled Martha Miller to start the day. Four of the five runs in the game were unearned after the two teams combined for five errors.
Ring limited the Scots to two unearned runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts in the complete-game victory. Miller struck out 11 over the six-inning complete game but took the loss after yielding three runs (one earned) on three hits with one walk.
St. Olaf put two runs on the board in the bottom of the first to give Ring an early lead. After a walk, an error, and a passed ball put runners on second and third with one out, junior
Eva Hokanson laced a two-run double to right.
Macalester tied the game with a pair of unearned runs of its own, but Hokanson threw out a runner at the plate to end the inning and keep the game tied. The score remained tied until the bottom of the sixth when sophomore
Elizabeth Jennison came in to score on a dropped pop up on the infield that would have been the third out of the inning.
In the top of the seventh, the Scots got a leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt to put the tying run at second, but Ring got a strikeout and a ground out to end the game.
St. Olaf 6, Macalester 4 | Box Score
After the teams traded four-run innings early on, St. Olaf broke the tie with two runs in the bottom of the fourth to complete the sweep. Ring tossed 3.1 innings of shutout relief, giving up four hits with two walks and four strikeouts, to collect her second win of the day.
Junior
Regan Zak recorded her second four-hit game of the season, going 4-for-4 with two runs scored and three stolen bases. Six other Oles had one hit apiece, with first year
Joy Jung and senior
Elle Brandt both knocking in a pair of runs.
After being held to three hits by Miller in game one, St. Olaf registered four runs on six hits in the opening inning of game two. Singles by senior
Belle Schmidt and Hokanson brought in runs before Brandt hit a two-out, two-run double off the top of the fence to complete the four-run frame.
The Scots got all four runs right back in the next half inning with four hits and two hit batters in the inning. Ring got a strikeout to get out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the top of the fourth before the Oles broke the tie in the next half inning.
With runners on second and third and two outs, Jung dropped a single into center field to score Schmidt and Zak for what proved to be the decisive hit. Ring again got out of a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the top of the fifth on her way to finishing off the win.
