EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Led by the hitting of Megan Erickson and Olivia Tautges, who set a school season record for home runs, the College of Saint Benedict softball team (17-13) rolled to a road nonconference doubleheader sweep of UW-Eau Claire (13-13) by scores of 7-4 and 13-7 on Sunday (April 21).

CSB, which has won 15-of-17 games, stands 17-13 overall with the nonconference portion of the schedule completed. CSB, which closes the season with 10 MIAC games, leads the MIAC at 10-2 and hosts Hamline on Tuesday (April 23) at 3:30/5:30 p.m.

In the doubleheader against UW-Eau Claire, CSB scored 20 runs on 26 hits while hitting .371 with a .514 slugging mark and .443 on-base percentage. As a result, the Bennies are hitting .322 with a .472 slugging percentage for the season. Today, Erickson hit .625 with five hits in eight at bats along with a home run and four RBI and a 1.125 slugging percentage.

Tautges hit her 10^th home run of the season to break the school record by Lexi Alm with nine in 2014. With 11 home runs overall, she ranks tied for seventh with Mary Welle, 1997-00. Today, she had four hits in eight at bats with five runs, a home run and three RBI and a .875 slugging. In addition, Addy Bowne, Bryn Carlstrom, Cat Smetana, Sammy Muetzel all collected three hits. In the circle Ellie Peterson (9-4) and Bowne (6-2) both earned wins today.
 

By the Numbers – Since March 30 –
Over the past 17 games, CSB has hit .380 with a .583 slugging mark and .434 on-base percentage with 147 runs (8.64 per game) and 194 hits (11.4 per game), including 18 home runs and 42 doubles in the stretch. Tautges has hit .552 with a team-high 32 hits and 25 runs and a 1.069 slugging mark. She has hit eight home runs and 27 RBI with 62 total bases. Sammy Muetzel has hit .435 with 12 RBI while Erickson has hit .398 with five homers and 27 RBI and a .776 slugging percentage. In addition, junior Addy Bowne has hit .433 with 10 RBI while sophomore Olivia Van Hout has a .400 batting average with a .500 OBP and was 13-of-13 in stolen bases which makes her 19-of-19 for the season. Over that same stretch of games, the pitching corps have a 2.44 earned run average with 71 strikeouts and 112 innings. In that stretch of games, Peterson is 9-0 with a 1.61 earned run average, six complete games and 44 strikeouts in 61 innings.

Game 1 – Saint Benedict 7 UW-Eau Claire 4
 Erickson had three hits, including a home run, and Peterson won her ninth game as CSB recorded a 7-4 win over UW-Eau Claire in the opener.

After UW-Eau Claire took a 2-1 lead, CSB scored three runs in the third inning with one in the fifth inning and two in the sixth inning for a 7-4 advantage.

Erickson had three hits in four at bats with three RBI and a run scored. The junior standout hit her fifth home run of the season and also had a run-scoring double. Sophomore Cat Smetana had two hits and a run scored while Carlstrom added two hits and two RBI. Tautges had a hit, RBI and two runs scored.

Peterson (9-4) earned her ninth win after working seven innings, allowing nine hits and four runs (three earned) with three strikeouts and two walks. In throwing her sixth complete game of the season and the second of the weekend, Peterson threw 100 pitches, including 64 strikes.

Game 2 – Saint Benedict 13 UW-Eau Claire 7
Led by Tautges' record-setting home run, along with four RBI by both Muetzel and Bowne, CSB scored 11 runs over the opening three innings and cruised to a 13-7 win and sweep of the doubleheader.

The Bennies scored four times in the first inning before adding a run in the second inning and six in the third frame for an 11-3 lead. In the fifth inning, Saint Benedict scored two more runs for the 13-7 lead to earn its eighth win in 13 games in the all-time series with UW-Eau Claire.

Tautges, who hit a solo home run in the first inning to set CSB's season record, had three hits and three runs scored along with two RBI. Bowne, who also earned the win in the circle to move to 6-2, had three hits and four RBI with a run scored. Muetzel supplied two hits, including a double, and a career-high four RBI. Erickson recorded two hits and an RBI as the Bennies, which had three stolen bases, rolled up 16 hits with the team's 14^th double-digit hit total this year. In the past 16 games, CSB has double-digit hits 12 times.  

In the circle, sophomore Olivia Wallace started and worked four innings. She allowed two earned runs on six hits with a strikeout. Bowe finished with three innings of relief. In winning for the sixth time in eight decisions, she allowed four runs on seven hits with two strikeouts.