NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College softball team ran its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) winning streak to eight games with 4-0 and 7-4 wins over the College of St. Scholastica on Sunday afternoon at Mark Almli Field.
Senior
Roxanne Ring threw a one-hit shutout to pitch St. Olaf (19-14, 12-5 MIAC) past St. Scholastica (7-26, 1-16 MIAC) in game one. In search of just their second MIAC victory of the season, the Saints held a 2-0 lead in game two before the Oles scored five runs in the fifth and held on to complete their fourth conference sweep in a row.
St. Olaf will travel to Concordia-Moorhead for a doubleheader starting at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, April 28.
St. Olaf 4, St. Scholastica 0 | Box Score
Ring held St. Scholastica to one hit with no walks and eight strikeouts in her second shutout of the season. The only hit the senior yielded was a bunt single to start the top of the sixth, but that runner was quickly thrown out stealing in the next at-bat.
Offensively, junior
Regan Zak and senior
Belle Schmidt combined to go 6-for-8 with two runs scored and two RBI out of the top-two spots in the Oles' lineup. Ring and classmate
Abby Nevin added two hits apiece.
In the bottom of the second, Ring backed herself with a two-out, run-scoring double to left two batters after Nevin doubled to center. St. Olaf added a run to its lead in the next inning when junior
Kyra Narum led off with a double, got to third on a bunt single by Zak, and scored on a single by Schmidt.
St. Olaf completed the scoring with a two-run fifth inning that started with a triple by Zak. Schmidt followed with an RBI single and later scored on a single by senior
Elle Brandt.
St. Olaf 7, St. Scholastica 4 | Box Score
St. Scholastica's Bailey Ellison shut out St. Olaf until the fifth inning to help the visitors to a 2-0 lead, but the Oles scored seven times in the next two innings and held off the Saints. Sophomore
Amelia Burns helped preserve the lead by getting out of bases-loaded situations in each of the final two innings to record her first collegiate save.
First year
Hannah Yaeger was 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, a run scored, and three RBI, while senior
Madyn Singleton added the go-ahead three-run double. Zak got on three more times by going 2-for-3 with a walk, two stolen bases, and two runs scored.
Singleton picked up her fifth victory of the season after allowing four runs on six hits with five walks and four strikeouts over the first 5.1 innings. Burns relieved Singleton with the bases loaded and one out in a 5-4 game in the sixth and got the Oles out of the inning with the lead intact before again leaving the bases full of Saints in the seventh.
St. Scholastica scored single runs in the first and third to build a 2-0 lead that Ellison made stand up until St. Olaf's five-run fifth. After two walks to start the inning, Yaeger doubled in both runners with one out to tie the game. Two more walks later in the inning filled the bases for Singleton, who doubled to the wall in left center to clear the bases and give the Oles a 5-2 lead.
Trailing by three, the Saints battled back in the top of the sixth with two runs and had the bases loaded with one out before Burns got an infield fly and a strikeout to preserve St. Olaf's lead. The Oles stretched their lead to 7-4 with two runs in the next half inning, with both coming on a single by Yaeger after the ball got by the left fielder to allow a second run to score.
After Burns retired the first two batters of the top of the seventh, three consecutive Saints got on to fill the bases, but Burns got another strikeout to finish the game. The sweep saw the Oles leapfrog Macalester College into third place in the MIAC standings after the Scots were swept by Carleton College on Sunday.
