ST. PAUL, Minn. – Tuesday afternoon, the College of Saint Benedict softball team picked up two huge wins against St. Kate's in order to set the school record for wins and earn the No. 2 seed in the MIAC Tournament.
Friday in St. Paul, the Wildcats flipped the script on CSB.
Saint Benedict managed just four hits in the first six innings and fell 4-2 to St. Kate's in the first round of the MIAC Tournament Friday afternoon on the St. Thomas camps. The Wildcats – the tournament's No. 3 seed – advance to play the top-seeded Tommies at 11 a.m. Saturday and CSB, the No. 2 seed, takes on No. 5 St. Olaf at 1:30 p.m.
The Wildcats (26-13) got off to a fast start as the first batter doubled and later scored on a sac fly, and another batter reached on an error and came around to score thanks to a wild pitch.
Kate Deming had a leadoff single for CSB, and the team had runners at second and third, but couldn't capitalize. Both teams were scoreless in the second and third innings, but St. Kate's made it 3-0 in the fourth thanks to three hits, including an RBI double.
The Wildcats added one more run for good measure in the top of the seventh on another RBI double before CSB got on the board.
Olivia Olson walked to start the bottom of the seventh, and with one out,
Claire Boatman hit a two-run homer over the left-field fence to give the team some hope.
Kate Deming singled to get another runner on, but a groundout and a fielder's choice with a tagged out at second base ended CSB's rally.
Deming finished with a trio of singles to lead CSB – which had six hits – and Boatman finished with two hits and the team's only two RBIs. Three players had multiple hits for St. Kate's, which had nine total hits.
Ally Hjort threw the first 1.1 innings and took the loss, just her third of the season. She gave up two runs – one earned – on two hits.
Alex Smith threw the final 5.2 innings and gave up two runs on seven hits with six strikeouts.
CSB has an uphill battle now to get itself to Sunday's championship game. The team faces St. Olaf – a team it swept on the road on April 28 – at 11:30 a.m., and the winner of that game plays the loser of the Wildcats/UST game at 4 p.m. Saturday. The winners of Saturday's first and third games earn a spot in Sunday's 11 a.m. championship game. The Oles fell 6-0 to the Tommies Friday afternoon in their first game of the tournament.
