Interview with first year pitcher Taylor Ellingson | Interview with first year catcher Sara Wennerstrand

CLERMONT, Fla. – After a pair of losses Tuesday and a loss Thursday morning, the College of Saint Benedict softball team needed to get back on track as it heads into the final stretch of its spring break trip.
 
CSB fell 6-2 to Aurora Thursday morning, and was down to Otterbein heading into the final inning. But first year Sara Wennerstrand sent in the tying run in the bottom of the seventh and came up with two big defensive plays in the eighth, and Kristen Eustice sent in the winning run with a fly ball in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Blazers to a 7-6 win.
 
The Blazers are now 5-5 overall, including a 3-5 record in Clermont, Fla.
 
Saint Benedict took a 1-0 lead in the first against Otterbein on a sac fly by Wennerstrand, but Otterbein took a 3-1 lead in the second inning. The Blazers made it 4-3 thanks to a two-run double by Taylor Ellingon and an RBI single from Nicole Nelson, but Otterbein scored once in the third and twice in the fifth to go up 6-4. Kim Lidstone reached on an error and scored on another Otterbein error to make it a 6-5 game in the fifth, and the Blazers tied the game in the bottom of the seventh when Lidstone singled, stole second and advanced on a bunt by Bailey O'Hotto. She came around to score on a single by Wennerstrand to send the game to extra innings.
 
Otterbein singled to start the eighth and advance the automatic runner to third, but the next batter popped out to right fielder Emma Steck, who threw the ball home to Wennerstrand for the double play. Wennerstrand picked off the runner at third to end the inning.
 
Mackenzie Wenner started at second as CSB's courtesy runner in the bottom of the eighth, and she came around to score when Eustice sent a long fly ball to the outfield that was misplayed by the center fielder.
 
Ellingson finished with two hits and two RBIs and Wennerstrand added a pair of RBIs for CSB, which had seven total hits. Ellingson threw 6.1 innings and earned the win after pitching all of the first game against Aurora. She gave up three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts. Melissa Seldon threw the first 1.2 innings and gave up three runs on four hits.
 
In their first game of the day, the Blazers got down early and never made a comeback. Aurora, which beat CSB 6-3 earlier in the week, scored three runs in the first inning on four singles. Lidstone tripled and scored on an Aurora error to make it 3-1 in the bottom of the inning, but Aurora added a single run in the fourth and two more in the sixth to go up 6-1. Wennerstrand had an RBI single in the sixth, but it wasn't enough.
 
The Blazers had five players with a single hit against Aurora. Wennerstrand had the lone RBI. Ellingson threw the complete game and gave up six runs on 10 hits with four strikeouts.
 
Saint Benedict has four games remaining in Florida. The Blazers take on Lebanon Valley at 8 a.m. CDT Friday, March 6, and Northwestern (Minn.) at noon CDT.