MANKATO, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team wrapped up the first weekend of its 2022 season Sunday morning with two more big wins at the Bethany Kwik Trip Invitational.
 
CSB started the day with a tight 1-0 win over UW-La Crosse, then wrapped up the weekend with a 7-1 win over rival UW-Eau Claire. In four games this weekend at the Mankato Dome, the Bennies racked up 48 hits including 12 doubles, three triples and four home runs while the team's pitchers gave up just 15 hits and two runs. The Bennies scored 28 runs.
 
In the first game of the day against the Eagles, CSB (4-0) managed just one hit in each of the first three innings and two in the fourth – and one of them proved to be the game-winner. Tori Harren homered over the right field fence to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and that would be all the Bennies needed. Saint Benedict got runners to third in the fifth when Gabby Spencer doubled and later stole third, but La Crosse ended the threat.
 
Spencer finished 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and a double and Megan Erickson also had to hits for the Bennies, who finished with seven hits. First year pitcher Addy Bowne picked up her second win of the weekend after giving up just three hits and striking out two batters in six innings of work, and Elly Novak picked up the save after striking out two batters in the final inning.
 
The second game of the day was quiet to start, but a big fourth inning propelled CSB to its fourth win of the weekend. The Bennies got on the board in the third when Spencer tripled and came around to score when Katie Carlson hit into a fielder's choice to make it a 1-0 game, and the Bennies broke the game open with a five-run fourth.
 
Maddie Brey singled to start the inning and came around to score on a triple from Spencer. Spencer scored on a single from Bryn Carlstrom, and Carlstrom scored thanks to a bases-loaded triple from Erickson. The Blugolds got a run back in the fifth, but the Bennies scored once more in the sixth for good measure when Bowne doubled and Harren scored on a throwing error.
 
Spencer had a huge game at the plate against the Blugolds as she went 4-for-5 with two triples and an RBI. Carlstrom added three hits and an RBI and Harren was 2-for-4 for CSB, which had 14 hits. Novak picked up her second win of the weekend as she gave up a single run and six hits and struck out 12 in seven innings of work.
 
The four dome wins give CSB momentum heading into their spring break trip to Clermont, Fla., where they play eight games in five days. The team starts the trip against Hiram College and Husson University on Monday, March 7.