ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team used a pair of solid pitching performances and some big hits to pick up its first MIAC sweep of the season Thursday evening. CSB beat Saint Mary's 3-0 and 4-1 in a makeup game in St. Joseph.
 
With three MIAC doubleheaders left in the regular season, CSB is in sixth with a 9-7 conference record. CSB is just behind Hamline, which is fifth with a 7-5 conference mark, and Carleton and St. Olaf are tied for third with 9-5 MIAC marks.
 
Thursday's wins also pushed CSB past the 20-win mark to put the team's overall record at 21-11. This marks the seventh straight season – each of head coach Rachael Click's seasons at the helm – that CSB has won 20 or more games.
 
In the first game of the day, Ally Hjort threw another strong game to help CSB to a 3-0 win. She gave up a trio of hits and shut out the Cardinals (7-21, 3-11) in her second shutout of the week. Saint Benedict scored in the first when Kate Deming singled and came around to score on an RBI sac fly by Claire Boatman. The team added single runs in the fourth on an RBI double by Alex Smith and one final run in the sixth on an RBI single from Emilie Antony. Hjort and the CSB defense didn't allow the Cardinals past second base.
 
Deming had two of the team's seven hits in the first game and Kendra Swanson and Smith both doubled. Hjort gave up three hits and struck out nine to earn her 12^th win of the season.
 
In the second game of the evening it was first year Lauren York's turn to take over on the mound. She struck out a trio of batters to get the game started in the first, and allowed just four hits and one unearned run.
 
The Cardinals got on the board first in the third inning when they got a double and scored on a CSB error, but Saint Benedict got that run back and then some in the bottom of the inning thanks to two singles, a hit by pitch and a pair of Saint Mary's errors. Deming had an RBI single to help put her team up 3-1. The Cardinals got a runner to third in the top of the sixth, but York was able to get out of the jam, and Jordyn Swoboda helped ice the win with a solo homer over the left-field fence in the bottom of the inning.
 
York struck out five batters to help pick up her fourth win of the season on the mound. Five different players had a single hit for CSB.
 
Saint Benedict is on the road for a pair of games over Easter weekend. The team is in Northfield Saturday for a 1 p.m. game at Carleton, and heads to Moorhead Monday for a makeup game against Concordia.