MOORHEAD, Minn. – To say the College of Saint Benedict softball team came out swinging in its MIAC opener at Concordia Saturday afternoon might be an understatement.
In the two games, CSB combined for 31 runs and 29 hits in a pair of shortened wins to kick off the conference season in a big way. Saint Benedict won the first game 11-3 in six innings and the second 20-2 in five innings.
CSB (13-5, 2-0) scored a pair of runs in the first inning of the first game on an RBI sac fly by
Emilie Antony and an RBI single from
Alex Smith. Antony had an RBI single,
Sara Wennerstrand an RBI sac fly and
Karlee Pfaff had an RBI single to make it 5-0 after two innings, and CSB used four hits and two Cobber errors to make it 9-0 thanks to a four-run fourth. Pfaff and Smith both had RBIs.
Saint Benedict added a single run on a wild pitch in the fifth and ended the game early thanks to an RBI single from
Kate Deming in the sixth.
Megan Toninato, Pfaff,
Olivia Olson and
Hailey Monroe all had two hits for CSB, which had 14 total hits. Antony, Pfaff and Smith had two RBIs each. Smith threw all six innings to pick up her fifth win of the year. She gave up three runs on three hits with five strikeouts.
CSB struck early with a five-run first inning and never looked back in the second game. Saint Benedict added three runs in the second, five in the third, six in the fourth and one more in the fifth. Pfaff had a pair of two-run homers and went 2-for-3 with four RBIs in the second game. Wennerstrand went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and
Sydney Meyer and Antony each had a double. Ten different players got a hit for CSB, and seven sent in at least one run. The Cobbers (8-10, 0-2) scored a single run in the first and fourth innings.
Cassie Meyer threw the first four innings to earn the win after giving up two runs on three hits.
Jocelyn Metz threw the final inning and gave up a single hit.
CSB is back in action and at home for the first time this season at 1 p.m. Sunday when it hosts Saint Mary's in a MIAC doubleheader.
