WAVERLY, IOWA – Despite home runs by Olivia Tautges and Cat Smetana, the College of Saint Benedict softball team dropped a 6-5 decision to Wartburg in game two after falling in the opener, 7-1, in nonconference play at Lynes Field on Friday (March 29).

With the sweep, Wartburg improved to 12-9 on the season while CSB dropped to 2-10. Saint Benedict will travel to face No. 24 Central College on Saturday with a nonconference doubleheader scheduled for 1/3 p.m.

Saint Benedict led game two, 4-1, against Wartburg before the Knights rallied for the closely contested 6-5 win. In the opener, Wartburg scored seven early runs and took the 7-1 decision.

By the Numbers – Today, five players had at least two hits to lead the Bennies offense, which had a .381 slugging and .311 OBP. Bryn Ruhberg had two hits in three at bats with three walks as she had a team-best .857 OBP. As a result, the sophomore standout lead CSB in hitting with a .440 average and .517 on-base percentage. She has 11 hits, a total that ranks second on the team. Junior outfielder Maddy Kubik was 3-of-6 and hit .500 with a .500 OBP. Kubik is now second on CSB with a .393 average and she also has 11 hits. Sophomore Olivia Tautges homered and had two hits in four trips to the plate as she had a 1.250 slugging mark and a .500 batting average. Tautges has two home runs and five RBI this season. Junior Megan Erickson had two hits, including a pair of doubles, in hitting .333 with a .429 OBP. In addition, sophomore Cat Smetana homered for the second time this year and hit .286 with a .714 slugging mark. On the season, Smetana leads CSB with 12 hits and has a .316 batting average and .333 on-base percentage with a team-high seven RBI.

In the circle, junior Addy Bowne made two appearances with a team-low 2.08 earned run averaged with two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Wartburg hit just .176 against her. Sophomore Ellie Peterson had five strikeouts and worked 6 1/3 innings while sophomore Olivia Wallace (1-6) had two strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings.

Game 1 – Wartburg 7 Saint Benedict 1
In the opener, Wartburg used the combined pitching of Ashley Nelson (5-3) and Hannah Luellen to earn a 7-1 win and take the opener.
Combined Nelson and Luellen allowed just five hits and one run in the victory. After Luellen started and held CSB to one hit in three innings, Nelson took over as she earned her fifth win of the season. Nelson allowed four hits and a run with one strikeout.

For CSB, sophomore Olivia Wallace (1-5) started and took the loss as she allowed two runs on three hits in 1/3 of an inning. Sophomore Ellie Peterson worked 2 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on four hits and had two strikeouts but hit three batters and walked one. Bowne finished for CSB with 3 1/3 innings of shutout relief as she had two strikeouts and walked just one.

The Bennies' offense was led by Kubik, Bryn Carlstrom, Smetana, Ruhberg and Erickson, who all had hits. Wartburg was led by Reagan Hassel with two hits and an RBI as she scored twice. The Knights had seven runs on seven hits as six different players scored runs and had hits.

Wartburg opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the opening inning and pushed the lead to 7-0 with five runs in the third frame. Also in the third inning, the Bennies had a single by Carlstrom, and after pinch runner Allison Ritter stole second, she scored on an infield single by Ruhberg to cut the lead to 7-1.

Game 2 – Wartburg 6 Saint Benedict 5
In game two, Wartburg rallied from a three-run deficit to record a 6-5 win in a closely-contest game two of the nonconference doubleheader.

The Bennies' offense was led by Maddy Kubik and Olivia Tautges, who both had a pair of hits. Among Tautges' two hits was her second home run of the season. Sophomore Cat Smetana also hit her second home run of the season. CSB also had a double and run scored by Megan Erickson, and a hit and run scored by Ruhberg while Tori Benson had a hit and RBI. In total, CSB had eight hits.

The homers by Tautges and Smetana gave CSB a 4-1 lead. However, Wartburg had a four-run third frame, taking advantage of a couple of CSB errors, to rally for a 5-4 lead. They had a run in the fifth frame for a 6-4 lead. In the seventh inning, Megan Erickson doubled and scored on Tori Benson's RBI ground out.

Bowne started and worked one inning, allowing three hits and one run. Wallace (1-6) also worked an inning in which she allowed three hits and four runs, although just one earned run. She also recorded two walks and a strikeout. Peterson had a solid outing in relief, allowing just three hits and a run with three strikeouts in working four innings.

For Wartburg, Avery Mull started and lasted two innings when she allowed three hits and two runs. Lape Kennedy (1-1) earned the win by working 1 2/3 innings and recording two strikeouts with two walks, two hits and two runs. Ashley Nelson picked up her second save as she allowed three hits and a run with a strikeout in 3 1/3 innings. Wartburg's offense was led by Jenna Wiebenga who had three hits of the nine collected by the Knights.