Bennies Split Series with Oles

The College of St. Benedict softball team needed a sweep of St. Olaf to secure a berth in the conference tournament, but instead, they split a doubleheader at home on Saturday.

The first game was a slow one. It was scoreless until the sixth inning when the Oles scored two runs. In the bottom of the seventh, St. Ben’s tried to catch up, but only got one run. They fell 2-1.

Game two was the opposite. Quiet again to start, the Bennies scored first in the fourth inning by running in two. Then in the fifth, they added another to extend their lead to 3-0. St. Olaf was only able to muster one run in the top of the seventh, and the Bennies took this one 3-1.

Emilie Antony, Claire Boatman, Kendra Swanson, and Madison Mikolich each scored one for the home team. Ally Hjort threw six strikeouts in the first game, and Grace Gilmore threw eight in the second game.

The Bennies improve to 26-12 and 14-8 MIAC. They will close out the season with a non-conference doubleheader on Tuesday against the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire starting at 4:00 p.m.

The team awaits results across the conference to see if they will slide into the fourth spot to play in the MIAC Tournament that begins on Friday and runs through Sunday.