STORM LAKE, Iowa – After two weeks off, the College of Saint Benedict softball team swept Buena Vista Saturday afternoon in the team's first outdoor game played in the Midwest in 2019.
CSB racked up double-digit hits in both games and took advantage of seven total BVU errors as it won 8-3, 8-4 to pick up the nonconference sweep. Saint Benedict is now 12-4 overall heading into MIAC play while the Beavers are 12-6.
In the first game of the afternoon – which marked the first ever softball game played on BVU's campus – CSB had two big innings early to take a lead it never gave up.
Claire Boatman had a two-run double and
Sheridan Glashan hit an RBI single to put CSB up 3-0 after the top fo the first, and the team added three more runs in the third thanks to a pair of errors, an RBI single from
Emilie Antony and an RBI double from
Kendra Swanson.
The Beavers made it 6-1 thanks to a solo homer to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and added two more runs after another homer and an RBI single in the sixth, but
Alex Smith had an RBI single in the sixth and Swanson had another RBI double in the top of the seventh to help CSB hold on for the win.
Kate Deming had a trio of hits to lead CSB, which finished the first game of the doubleheader with 13 hits. Boatman and Swanson both had two hits and two RBIs, and Antony also had two hits.
Lauren York threw the first four innings to pick up the second win of her collegiate career. She gave up a single run on two hits. Smith threw the final three innings and gave up two runs on four hits with three strikeouts.
In the second game of the day, Buena Vista hit its third home of the day in the second inning to go up 1-0, but CSB took over the lead back in the third on a two-run triple from Boatman, and that score stayed until the final inning.
In the top of the seventh, the Beavers committed two errors and CSB had six hits – including a three-run triple from Glashan and an RBI single from
Madison Mikolich – to make it 8-1. Buena Vista scored three runs in the bottom of the inning on a three-run homer, but that's as close as they would come.
Boatman added two more hits and three more RBIs to her daily total to lead CSB, which had 11 hits to BVU's five. Deming, Antony and
Olivia McCabe all had two hits and Glashan also had a trio of RBIs. Smith threw the first two innings and gave up one run on one hit with two strikeouts, and
Ally Hjort gave up a trio of runs on four hits with four strikeouts to earn the win in the final five innings.
CSB is scheduled to be back in action and to start MIAC play Saturday and Sunday, March 30-31, at the team's new field at the Outdoor Athletics Complex. The team is scheduled to host Macalester Saturday and St. Kate's Sunday. Stay tuned to gobennies.com or follow CSB athletics on Twitter, @csb_athletics, for schedule changes and updates.
