TUCSON, Ariz. – After upsetting the No. 5 team in Division III Wednesday, the College of Saint Benedict softball team gave the No. 11 team in the country all it could handle Thursday afternoon.
One day after picking up one of the biggest wins in program history, CSB took 11
th-ranked St. John Fisher to nine innings before falling 6-5 on the team's fourth day of games in Tucson, Ariz. CSB started the day with a 5-0 loss to Moravian.
Much like its game against No. 5 Trine, Saint Benedict – which is now 11-3 – grabbed an early lead against the Cardinals (7-5).
Emilie Antony singled in the first inning and came around to score on an error by the SJF defense. In the second inning,
Olivia Olson walked and later came around to score as St. John Fisher was trying to catch
Alex Smith, who had also walked.
The Cardinals got one run back in the bottom of the fourth, but CSB made it 3-1 in the fifth when
Madison Mikolich singled and scored on an RBI single by
Megan Toninato. Fisher made it a one-run game in the bottom of the inning, and scored two runs on a pair of RBI singles in the sixth to go up 4-3. Mikolich singled again and came around to score on an RBI double by
Kate Deming in the top of the seventh, and the Cardinals went down in order in the bottom of the inning to send it to extras.
Deming scored on an RBI single by
Claire Boatman in the eighth, but Fisher responded with an RBI single of its own in the bottom of the inning. Both teams left the bases loaded in the eighth inning. The Cardinals turned a double play to start the top of the ninth, and left Toninato stranded after she singled to left field. In the bottom of the inning, St. John Fisher ended the game with an RBI single to center field.
First year pitcher
Ally Hjort threw all 8.2 innings against the Cardinals in her second complete game in as many days. She scattered 11 hits over those 8.2 innings and gave up six runs – three earned. She struck out a career-high 10 batters with just three walks in her first loss of the year. Toninato, Mikolich and Antony led CSB's offense with two hits each. CSB finished with 10 hits.
In the team's first game of the day Thursday, it mustered just three hits in a 5-0 loss to Moravian. Moravian scored twice in the first, added one run in the third and two more in the fifth. Deming,
Sara Wennerstrand and Mikolich each had a hit.
Kiela DeVlaeminck threw four innings and picked up her first loss of the year. She gave up three runs on four hits with three strikeouts.
Alex Smith threw the final two innings and gave up two runs on two hits.
CSB wraps up its Arizona trip with a pair of games Friday before flying back to Minnesota Sunday. CSB takes on Hiram at 2:30 p.m. CST and Northland (Wis.) at 4:30 p.m. CST.