ST. JOSEPH, Minn.-- After winning nine straight games, including sweeps over three conference opponents, the College of Saint Benedict Softball team (11-11, 6-0 MIAC) will return home to host a MIAC doubleheader against St. Catherine University (9-15, 3-5 MIAC) at 1/3 p.m.on Saturday, April 13 at the CSB Softball Field. The Bennies sit in a tie in the MIAC for first place with Bethel University.
Up Next
This weekend, the Bennies will play a pair of MIAC doubleheaders, including the home match up with St. Catherine, followed by a road trip to St. Paul, Minn., to take on Macalester (18-6, 5-1 MIAC) on Sunday, April, 14 at 1 p.m.
Saint Benedict Opens Season with Top-Five Schedule
The Bennies have faced one of the toughest schedules in NCAA DIII with eight games of the first 14 played against teams ranked in the NFCA NCAA DIII top 25. Among its three wins, CSB had a walk-off 11-9 win over then No. 12 Belhaven as Olivia Tautges hit a dramatic three-run, game-winning home run. The Bennies recorded a 5-4 win over Emory University on March 7 as Olivia Wallace recorded her first win of her career. In addition, CSB had a come-from-behind 6-3 extra innings (11 innings) victory over Central College on Saturday, March 30 as Sammy Muetzel had a sacrifice fly to give CSB a 4-3 lead before Maddy Kubik's two-run single pushed the lead to 6-3 in the decisive 11th inning. Against Central College, CSB had a career-best pitching performance from Ellie Peterson, who worked 11 innings, had six strikeouts, and allowed just one earned run. CSB now has two wins over top-25 opponents this season.
Against Coe College on March 23, the Bennies dropped 5-4 and 4-1 decisions at the Husky Dome as the snowstorm that hit the area prevented games from being played at the CSB Softball Field. On March 29, CSB dropped 7-1 and 6-5 decisions to Wartburg (12-9) before splitting a pair of games with No. 24 Central College (13-6) falling, 8-1, before winning 6-3 in extra innings in game two on March 30. Since defeating No. 24 Central College in 11 innings, CSB has won eight more games in a row, including six straight to open the MIAC schedule. CSB has defeated St. Olaf, 8-3 and 7-2 on April 3; UW-Stout, 10-2 and 2-1 on April 4; Augsburg, 9-0, and 9-0 on April 6; and Concordia 12-1 and 10-1 on April 9.
Inside Look at Bennies
Directed by 11th-year head coach Rachael Click, the Bennies are hitting. 314 for fourth in the MIAC with a .808 OPS as a team. Saint Benedict has 194 hits, including 14 home runs, 35 doubles and three triples. Junior pitcher/outfielder Addy Bowne leads the way with a .435 batting average totaling 10 hits and two doubles. Sophomore infielder Bryn Ruhberg is hitting .421 and she owns a .998 OPS with 24 hits and a .507 on-base percentage. After seven multi-hit games in the past nine played, senior infielder Bryn Carlstrom has pushed her season-average to .371 and owns a .808 OPS with a team-high 26 hits and 12 RBI. Reigning MIAC and Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week Olivia Tautges, who has hit .633 with five homers and 17 RBI in the past nine games, is batting .379 with a 1.203 OPS. She has a league-high seven home runs and 22 RBI (second in the MIAC). Sophomore infielder Cat Smetana is batting .361 with an .943 OPS, 12 RBI and 26 hits while junior outfielder Maddy Kubik has a .339 batting average. In the circle, sophomore Ellie Peterson (5-4) and junior Addy Bowne (4-1) lead the way, making a total of 25 combined appearances. Peterson has a team-high 62.2 innings with 10 starts and a team-best 45 strikeouts. Sophomore Olivia Wallace has made 13 appearances with eight starts and a team-best five complete games while working 42.2 innings with 23 strikeouts.
Streaks and Miscellaneous Notes
Led by a 13-game hitting streak by Smetana, four players have current hitting streaks of six games or more. Tautges has a nine-game while Ruhberg and Sammy Muetzel have each totaled six-game hitting streaks. Carlstrom has compiled eight multi-hit games to lead CSB including two three-hit games. Tautges has seven-multi-hit games, including three of three hits or more and a team-best four hits against St. Olaf on April 3. Ruhberg has a team-best 17-game on-base streak with Smetana at 15 and Tautges at nine. In multi-RBI games, Tautges leads CSB with seven, including one four-RBI game and three games with three RBI. Carlstrom, Erickson, Tori Benson, and Smetana also have a trio of multi-RBI games.
About the Wildcats
Directed by sixth year head coach Colleen Powers, the Wildcats have a 9-15 record and 3-5 in league play after a series split against Carleton College. Leading St. Catherine's offense is Helen McKinnon, who is batting .410 with 16 RBI and 32 hits. Taylor Brunn is hitting .382 with 29 hits. In the circle, Sarah Christy is 4-6 in 13 appearances and 11 starts.
Series Notes - Bennies Lead, 58-18
After a 5-3 loss in the last match-up on May 4, 2023, with St. Catherine's, the Bennies have built a series lead of 58-18. CSB has won two out of the last three games in the last two years and had a 31-game winning streak from April 23, 1990, to April 6, 2005. CSB is 27-11 at SCU and 26-6 at home against the Wildcats with an 57-17 league mark. The Bennies 6-4 in the last 10 games, won the first game between the schools on April 19, 1986.
Nine-Game Win Streak/By the Numbers
Over the nine-game winning streak, the Bennies have hit .416 to raise their team season average to .314. Saint Benedict is led by Bryn Ruhberg at .421 followed by Tautges at .379, who has a 1.203 OPS with seven home runs and 22 RBI and .793 slugging mark. In the winning streak, Tautges hit .633 with 19 hits, 14 runs, five home runs and 17 RBI with a .667 on-base percentage. Sammy Muetzel has hit .550 with 11 hits while Bowne had 10 hits in 20 at bats and hit .500. Erickson hit. 379 with 14 RBI and three homers. Carlstrom was 15-of-31 from the plate for a .484 average at the plate.
In the circle, CSB had a 1.19 earned run average with just 35 hits allowed in 59 innings with 35 strikeouts. Peterson was 5-0 with a 1.20 earned run average and three complete games with 26 strikeouts in 35 innings. Addy Bowne was 3-0 with a 1.87 earned run average and Wallace 1-0 with a 0.00 earned run average in her five appearances and nine innings. With her two home runs, Benson has moved into a tie for third all-time at CSB with 17 (Mackenzie Wenner, 2012-15). In each of the last eight games, CSB has recorded double-digits in hits.
Ranked among Top-10 in NCAA Division III/MIAC
As a team, the College of Saint Benedict Softball team ranks among the top-10 in the MIAC in 10 statistical categories including batting average (.316), doubles (35), doubles per game (1.59), fielding percentage (.968), hits (195), home runs (14), home runs per game (0.64), scoring (5.18), slugging percentage (.450), and total runs (114). In NCAA DIII, Tautges ranks 12th in home runs per game with 0.35 and 13th in total home runs with seven. She leads the MIAC in both categories.
Olivia Tautges Named Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week
After hitting .600 and driving in 12 runs in six wins, sophomore outfielder Olivia Tautges was named Louisville Slugger National Player of the Week on Tuesday, April 9. Tautges, an environmental studies major from Brainerd, Minn., earned her first St. Cloud Orthopedics / CSB Athlete of the Week honor on April 8 when she also received her first MIAC Player of the Week honor. She is the 13th player at CSB to earn MIAC Player of the Week honors and the CSB program now has had 20 total award recipients. This week, Tautges helped CSB go 6-0, including 4-0 in the MIAC, while extending the team's winning streak to seven games by her outstanding play at the plate and in the field. She had a .600 batting average with 12 hits in 20 at bats, including three home runs and 12 RBI. She scored nine runs and also had a pair of doubles to go with 23 total bases. Tautges registered a 1.150 slugging mark and .619 OBP. Additionally, she had a stolen base, walk, and fielded five putouts while fielding 1.000. After her torrid hitting display, Tautges extended her hitting streak to seven games while recording four multi-hit and multi-RBI games as the Bennies swept St. Olaf, 8-3 and 7-2; UW-Stout, 10-2 and 2-1; and Augsburg, 9-0, and 9-0. In the doubleheader sweep of the Oles on April 3 (8-3, 7-2) Tautges was 6-of-7 at the plate with three runs scored and five RBI. In an 8-3 win over St. Olaf, Tautges tied a career-high with four hits and had three RBI. In the sweep of UW-Stout, she had three hits in six at-bats with three runs scored and five RBI while also homering in both games. In the 10-2 win over UW-Stout, she hit a three-run homer and then slugged the game-tying home run in the 2-1 game two victory. Tautges also was 3-of-7 against Augsburg and had a home run and RBI in the game one win. Through 18 games in 2024, Tautges has pushed her average to .340 (3rd on CSB) with a team-best 1.031 OPS. She is 18-of-53 from the plate and tied for a team-best 12 runs. She leads the MIAC in home runs with five, tied for third in RBI with 18 and slugging percentage at .679. On the season, she has six multi-RBI and multi-hit games.
