BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – For the second straight week, sophomore outfielder Olivia Tautges of the College of Saint Benedict softball team has been named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Player of the Week after leading the Bennies to a 5-1 record and hitting over .600.
 
Tautges, who was named the NCAA DIII Louisville Slugger/National Fastpitch Softball Association (NFCA) Player of the Week on Tuesday, April 9, is also the St. Cloud Orthopedics / CSB Athlete of the Week for a second straight week. She is the  13^th Saint Benedict player to earn MIAC Player of the Week honors as the program now has 21 total award recipients. Tautges is the third CSB player (Sara Wennerstrand, 3/7/2016; 3/28/2016; 3/13/2017; 4/17/2017; and Gabby Spencer, 2/28/22; and 4/10/23) to earn two or more MIAC player of the week honors. In addition, she is just the second CSB player (Sara Wennerstrand) to get the honor twice in the same season.
 
An environmental studies major from Brainerd, Minn., Tautges had a .611 batting average in six games (five wins) with 11 hits in in 18 at bats, including four home runs and 10 RBI. She scored nine runs and also had a trio of doubles to go with 26 total bases. Tautges registered a 1.444 slugging mark and .696 OBP. In the last 12 games, she has hit .605 with seven home runs and 22 RBI and a 1.289 slugging mark as well as a .659 OBP. She has scored 18 runs with a team-high 23 hits in 38 at bats with five doubles.

After this torrid 12-game span, the sophomore outfielder has pushed her average to .408 with a 1.328 OPS and .873 slugging mark for the season. She has tied the CSB school record for home runs in a season with nine (Lexi Alm, 2014), a mark that leads the MIAC and ranks 13th in NCAA DIII. In addition, she has a team-best 28 RBI and 62 total bases while recording 21 runs scored. This week she had three multi-RBI and three multi-hit games. On the season, she now has nine multi-hit and nine multi-RBI games.

This week, Tautges extended her hitting streak to 13 games to help CSB generate a .401 team batting average with 66 runs (10.6 per game) and 71 hits with a combined .684 slugging mark. CSB scored nine or more runs in five of six games including 12-1 and 10-1 decisions over Concordia; 9-0 win over St. Catherine; and 15-5 and 18-2 victories against Macalester which helped the Bennies take over first place in the MIAC with a 9-1 record. 

Next up for Tautges and CSB will be a road MIAC game at Carleton College on Wednesday, April 17 at 3:30/5:30 p.m.