ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team wrapped up the regular season with an 11-inning showdown and a late-game homer Saturday afternoon in front of a capacity grandstand on the nicest day of the season.
 
The Bennies and St. Thomas went back-and-forth in Game 1 with the Tommies coming out on top 4-3 in 11 innings, but Saint Benedict bounced back to win the second game 3-1 thanks to a two-run homer in the sixth from Tori Harren.
 
The split wraps up the regular season for CSB, which is 26-6 overall and 18-4 in the MIAC. The split ensures CSB a top-four seed in the MIAC standings. St. Olaf wrapped up the conference regular-season title with a sweep of St. Kate's Saturday afternoon, and the Bennies and Bethel are currently tied for second in the league standings, but the Royals hold the tiebreaker thanks to an April 15 sweep of the Bennies. The Oles and Tommies play on Wednesday to determine where UST lands in the standings. The Tommies are in fourth at 16-4 after Saturday's split.
 
The majority of the scoring in Saturday's first game happened in the first few innings. St. Thomas scored on an RBI single in the first inning, and went up 2-0 on an RBI triple in the second. The Bennies tied the game in the third on an RBI double from Mo Burns and an RBI triple from Gabby Spencer – her first of two triples on the day.
 
CSB took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on a sac fly to center from Jordyn Swoboda, but the Tommies tied things up in the sixth when a run came in on a wild pitch.
 
From there, neither team scored again until the Tommies sent in a run on an RBI single in the top of the 11^th. CSB had chances, and left two runners stranded in the eighth, ninth and 10^th innings. After UST scored in the top of the 11^th the Bennies loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning thanks to a sac bunt from Cody Zwack and a pair of intentional walks, but a fly out to left field ended the threat, and the game.
 
Burns finished the first game 2-for-4 with an RBI to pace the Bennies, who had six total hits. Both of her hits were doubles. Ally Hjort threw the first eight innings and left the game with the score tied 3-3 after giving up three runs on four hits with two strikeouts. Elly Novak threw three innings in relief and took the loss – just her second of the season – after giving up the winning run and one hit. She struck out three batters. The Bennies stranded 13 runners in the first game, including nine in extra innings.
 
Runs were just as hard to come by in the second game, but CSB made each of theirs count. The Tommies got on the board with a home run over the left field fence in the first inning – the first earned run Novak had given up since April 15.
 
From there, however, it was all CSB. The Bennies tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Spencer stole third and then came around to score on a UST throwing error, and then, after leaving several runners stranded, Tori Harren scored all the runs her team would need with a two-run homer over the right-field fence to make it 3-1. UST doubled to start the seventh, but a pair of strikeouts for Novak and a pop up to third ended the game.
 
Novak made CSB softball history once again with her win in Game 2. That marked her 17^th win of the season – a new school record. The previous record was 16 wins, set in 1993 by Stacie Klaviter and tied in 2014 by Emily Engelmeier. Novak tied the record Wednesday with her shutout of Saint Mary's. Saturday, Novak gave up a single run on five hits with six strikeouts.
 
Megan Rasmussen had two of the team's six hits in the second game, and Harren finished with two RBIs. Lexi Hanson had a double and Spencer's second triple of the day came in Game 2.
 
Now, Saint Benedict waits to see how the Tommies and Oles fare against each other in a makeup game Wednesday in St. Paul. The No. 1 and 2 seeds get a bye in the conference tournament, and the No. 3 and 4 seeds host a play-in game Thursday, May 13, before the four-team, double-elimination tournament starts Friday, May 14, at the highest seed.