CLERMONT, Fla. – Explosive offense mixed with solid starting pitching helped the College of Saint Benedict (2-0) successfully open the season with a pair of wins on Monday (March 6) in a 10-game schedule as part of the Spring Games. CSB recorded a 10-2 win over Husson Universit yand a 7-0 decision against Misericordia. 

Led by the pitching of first-year Ellie Peterson and hitting of junior Tori Harren, CSB took a 10-2 run-rule win over Husson University (0-1) in the opener. Then, Elly Novak earned her 37^th career win and the first of the year with a 7-0 shutout against Misericordia in game two.

CSB Head Coach Rachael Click was more than pleased with the opening performance of her team which won 30 games a year ago and advanced to the NCAA DIII regional final.

"The team played well on the opening day of the Spring Games. Yesterday was a long day of travel, today was an early morning and a hot day of softball," said Click, whose team will face Hiram College at 9 a.m., and University of Rochester at 11:30 am (EST) on Tuesday, Jan. 7. "It was fun to see first year Ellie Peterson pick up her first win and Olivia Tautges have a day at the plate in game- two," added Click, who now has 247 career wins.

Game 1 – Saint Benedict 10 Husson 2 (five innings)
Ellie Peterson (1-0) pitched a three-hit gem in her first career game to lift CSB to a 10-2 run-rule five-inning win over Husson in the season opener.

The Bennies opened the season with a double-digit offensive performance as they had 10 runs on six hits against Husson. As a result, the Bennies own a 6-0 all-time series lead. A year ago, CSB had six double-digit scoring games en route to 30 wins.

CSB scored two runs in the first inning, added a single tally in the second, two in the third and three in the fourth inning to take a 7-1 lead. With two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, CSB ended the game with a 10-2 win.

In five innings. Peterson allowed just three hits and two runs with three walks with two strikeouts in throwing 86 pitches, including 52 strikes.

The key blow in the game was a three run-home run from Harren, who had four RBI for the second most in her career (5, Gustavus, April 11, 2021). She also had a pair of walks and scored twice. Senior Jordyn Swoboda had a hit and two runs scored while senior All-American outfielder Gabby Spencer drew four walks and scored twice.

Game Summary
In the first inning, the Bennies took advantage of five walks to take a 2-0 lead. After walks, Swoboda and Spencer later scored. In the second inning CSB took a 3-0 lead after walks Thompson scored on a double play. After Husson scored a run in the third inning, CSB answered. First-year Sammy Muetzel reached on an error and advanced to second on a walk to Harren. After a wild pitch brought home Muetzel, Harren came home on a double by Thompson as CSB took a 5-1 advantage. In the fourth inning, Swoboda singled and advanced to second on Lexi Hanson's single. With two out, Harren hit her first home run of the season and 10^th of her career with a three-run shot for an 8-1 lead. Husson added another run before CSB ended the game with a pair of runs in the home half of the fifth inning. Spencer walked and advanced to second on Carlstrom's single. Spencer then scored on an error and first-year Olivia Van Hout, who was in the game as a pinch-runner for Carlstrom, scored on a single by sophomore Megan Erickson, which ended the game.

Game 2 – Saint Benedict 7 Misericordia 0 (7 innings)
Led by two-time All-Region senior pitcher Elly Novak, the Bennies earned a second straight win with a 7-0 win over Misericordia (3-1).

For Novak, she moved to 1-0 on the season with her 14^th career shutout and 37^th win. She allowed just two hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in the sterling effort to open the season.

The Bennies led, 1-0, before exploding for three runs in both the sixth and seven innings to finish off the shutout.

Leading the offense was first-year standout Olivia Tautges, who had a career-best four hits, including her first career home run, with a run scored and RBI.

Tori Harren had another big game for CSB with three hits and a run scored while junior Bryn Carlstrom added two hits and two RBI. In the 15-hit attack, junior Megan Rasmussen had a pair of hits and a run scored as did Tiffany Thompson.

Game Summary –
CSB took a 1-0 lead in the third inning after Gabby Spencer, who had a hit and two runs scored, singled, and came home on a run-scoring double by Carlstrom. That was all the scoring in the game until the sixth inning when CSB put up a three-spot. Thompson's two-out single brought home Olivia Van Hout for a 2-0 lead. After a walk to Spencer, Carlstrom had her second-run scoring hit to plate Thompson for a 3-0 lead. Spencer scored on a wild pitch as the Bennies led, 4-0. In the seventh inning, Tautges had her first career-home run with a blast over the centerfield fence. Then, Harren singled and advanced to third on a base hit by Rasmussen. Thompson had a run-scoring hit for a 6-0 lead. Spencer's RBI groundout scored Rasmussen to complete the scoring as CSB evened the all-time series with Misericordia at 1-1