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Minneapolis – The Saint Benedict softball team took its first split of the MIAC season, late on Apr. 16, taking game one from Hamline 7-5, before falling 9-8 in game two.

The Blazers (14-10, 3-5 MIAC) scored five unanswered runs to come back for the win in the first game, while the Pipers  (9-9, 5-3 MIAC) took the second with a pair of seventh inning home runs, capping a comeback of their own.

Rachel Nelson started the first game and went five innings for the win, collecting her eighth on the year. In the sixth she turned the ball over to Emily Engelmeier who threw no hit ball over the final two innings to close out the win and earn her first career save.

In the second game, Engelmeier started in the circle and quickly found herself on the wrong end of a shootout, allowing four runs in just the first inning. The Blazers though, backed her up with six runs over the second and third.

After settling down with just one run allowed through the second, third and fourth, Engelmeier was stung for two more in the fifth, but responded with a hitless sixth.

Then in the seventh, a leadoff home run tied the game at 8-8, and two batters – and two outs – later, a second home run won the game for the Pipers in walk-off fashion.

At the plate Engelmeier continued her current hitting streak, running the total to a season-long seven games, finishing with one in each game.

Kimberly Lidstone led the offense with a 4-for-8 day at the plate, while also scoring twice and driving in two. It was her two RBI single in the first game that game the Blazers their first lead at 6-5, finally erasing what was at once a 5-2 deficit on the way to the win.

On the base paths, she stole two bases, while Lexi Alm took just one, as Lidstone moves into the team lead with 14 steals.

Alm finished with just one hit on the day, but did score three times and drive in two.

Mackenzie Wenner added three hits on the day, which included a 2-for-3 day in the first, while closing the series with a run scored and two RBI.

The Blazers originally scheduled home doubleheader  with Augsburg on Thursday (Apr. 18) has been postponed with a make-up date yet to be determined. They will next get out on Friday, when they return to the Rosemount dome for a late night doubleheader with Concordia, with the first pitched scheduled for 9:30 p.m.