The College of Saint Benedict softball team scored 19 runs on 16 hits in the opener of a doubleheader against Macalester College Tuesday afternoon in St. Joseph, Minn.  After the 19-1 victory in game one, the Blazers found themselves trailing the Scots 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning.  CSB senior shortstop Devin Bowlin blasted a three-run homerun to give the Blazers their first lead of the nightcap.  The Blazers retired Macalester in the top half of the seventh to earn their second consecutive MIAC sweep and move to 12-8 in conference play.

In the opener, CSB put nine runs on the board in the first inning.  Senior Kristen Herges started the game with a double, and the next batter senior Abby Richardson tripled to left field to get the scoring started.  Later in the inning, junior Sierra Dooley hit a three-run homerun, and the next batter junior Lis Wieneke hit a solo shot to extend the CSB lead.   In the second inning, CSB scored eight more runs on five hits highlighted by a three-run homerun off the bat of first-year infielder Kelsey McQuillan.  The Blazers added two more runs in the third inning on RBI singles from sophomore Traci Thielen and junior Kristi Schammel.

First-year Rachel Nelson recorded her ninth win of the season on the mound for CSB.  Nelson pitched three innings, scattered two hits, and walked two.  First-year Amanda Eaton did not allow a hit in two innings of relief and struck out two Macalester batters.  Richardson led the offense with a 3-for-4 outing at the plate with three runs scored, and first-year Stacy Svihel went 2-for-3 with four RBIs and two runs scored. McQuillan was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Bowlin and Wieneke each went 2-for-2.

In game two, Macalester got on the board first with two unearned runs in the top of the first inning.  The Blazers added an unearned run of their own in the bottom of the first inning to cut the MAC lead to 2-1.  Macalester extened their lead to 3-1 by scoring another unearned run in the top of the fourth inning.  In the bottom of the sixth inning, first-year Lexi Alm led off the inning with a double to start the CSB rally.  Senior Carissa Hancock singled to right field to score Alm to make the score 3-2 in favor of Macalester.  With two outs and two runners on, Bowlin battled Macalester pitcher Amanda Knopf in a 12 pitch at-bat.  Bowlin sent Knopf's 3-2 offering over the left field fence to put the Blazers ahead 5-3.  Behind the strong pitching performance of junior Emma Alwin, CSB held on in the seventh inning to win 5-3.

Herges was the only Blazer to record multiple hits in game two by going 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored.  The only other hits were all recorded in the sixth inning.  Alwin fired a four-hitter over seven inning to pick up her fifth win of the season.  She did not give up an earned run and struck out four en route to the victory.

CSB will travel to Gustavus Adolphus College for their final regular season games tomorrow, May 4, for a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score