MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – A pair of strong pitching performances helped lift the College of Saint Benedict softball team to a MIAC sweep of Augsburg Wednesday night.
Ally Hjort threw a complete game no-hitter and struck out nine batters in a shutout of the Auggies in the first game, and
Alex Smith followed up with three hits and seven strikeouts in a one-run win in the second game of the day. CSB won the first game 6-0 and the second 2-1 to improve to 19-5 overall and 6-2 in the MIAC.
This marks the third straight MIAC sweep and sixth straight win for Saint Benedict, which is currently second in the conference.
Hjort – who is now 5-2 and improved her ERA to 0.80 with the win – allowed the Auggies (14-14, 6-6) just three baserunners all game, and never more than one in an inning.
Kendra Swanson got CSB on the board with a solo homer in the second inning, and Saint Benedict broke open the game with five runs in the fourth.
Karlee Pfaff hit a three-run homer,
Kate Deming had an RBI triple and
Megan Toninato hit an RBI single to send in the final run.
Hjort finished the game with no runs, one hit by pitch, two walks and nine strikeouts in seven innings in the first no-hitter of her CSB career. Toninato finished Game 1 3-for-4 and Swanson and
Olivia Olson each added two hits for CSB, which had 10 total hits.
In the second game it was Smith's turn to deal on the mound. She gave up a pair of singles in the first and the bases were loaded, but she struck out the fifth batter and forced a groundout the next and didn't allow Augsburg to score. She gave up just one more run all game – an RBI single in the sixth inning – for the Auggies' lone run of the game.
CSB took a 1-0 lead in the third when Deming singled, advanced on a double by Toninato and came around to score on an RBI groundout by
Emilie Antony. Saint Benedict pushed its lead to two runs in the fifth on another RBI groundout by Antony before Augsburg scored in the sixth. The Auggies grounded into a double play to end the inning, and couldn't get a runner past second in the final inning.
Smith finished the game with one run, three hits, two walks and seven strikeouts on her resume. Deming, Toninato,
Claire Boatman and
Madison Mikolich all had a hit for CSB.
Saint Benedict is back in action Saturday, April 21, when it takes on Bethel in a game scheduled to be played in Arden Hills. CSB hosts Carleton Sunday.
