PLANT CITY, Fla. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team avenged one of its 10 losses from the 2018 season Thursday afternoon. After falling to St. John Fisher 6-5 in extra innings last season in Arizona, the team beat the Cardinals 4-3 in Plant City, Fla.
The win sealed a second straight split on the day for CSB, which started with a 3-2 loss to Aurora. Saint Benedict is now 7-3 overall and is 6-2 in Florida.
Sophomore pitcher
Ally Hjort also got revenge for one of her five losses on the mound last season. She threw all seven innings against Fisher, giving up three runs – just one earned – on eight hits with five strikeouts.
Fisher got on the board first thanks to a pair of singles and an RBI sac fly, but CSB tied the game when
Kendra Swanson singled and scored on a sac fly by
Ally Hjort in the second, and took a 2-1 lead in the third when
Mo Burns doubled and came around to score on a Cardinal error. The Cardinals added two runs in the fourth thanks to three hits and an error.
That 3-2 lead held until the sixth when, with two outs,
Kate Deming walked and came around to score on an RBI double from Burns, and Saint Benedict sealed the win thanks to a single from
Claire Boatman, a Fisher error and an RBI single from
Sheridan Glashan. The first Fisher batter in the bottom of the inning singled, but the next three went down in order – including a pair of looking strikeouts to end the game.
Burns went 3-for-4 – including a pair of doubles – to pace CSB, which had nine hits. Boatman and Swanson both had two hits, including a double for Boatman.
In CSB's first game of the day, it took a 2-0 lead after two innings, but one big inning was all Aurora needed. Deming doubled and came around to score on an RBI single by
Emilie Antony in the first inning, and
Alex Smith singled to start the second and
Lauren Scheneman came in to score in her place thanks to an RBI sac fly from Deming.
Three walks and a pair of wild pitches helped Aurora get runners on in the third. Aurora scored one run on a sac fly, and two more runs came in on a two-run single to make it 3-2. Saint Benedict had runners on second and third with no outs in the fifth, and loaded the bases with two outs, but failed to score, and got a runner to third in the sixth, but Aurora held on for the win.
Deming and Antony each had two hits for CSB, which had seven total hits. Both of Deming's hits were doubles.
Grace Gilmore threw the first five innings and took the loss after giving up three runs on three hits with two strikeouts. Hjort threw the final two innings and gave up a single hit while striking out three.
CSB has two days left of competition in Florida. Friday it takes on Simmons and Hood in Plant City.
