ST JOSEPH, Minn.-- After winning 15 of the last 17 games, the College of Saint Benedict Softball team (17-13, 10-2 MIAC) will host Hamline (14-14, 4-10 MIAC) in a MIAC doubleheader at 3:30/5:30 p.m., on Tuesday, April 23 at the CSB  Softball Field.  After winning 6-of-8 in league play, Bennies sit in first place in the MIAC with a 10-2 record while the Pipers have a 4-10 league mark and and ninth place.

Up Next
On Wednesday, April 24, the Bennies will face Carleton College (12-14, 3-9 MIAC) on the road in MIAC play.

About the Pipers
Jim Rubbelke is in his 17th season as head softball coach in 2024, taking over the program in 2008. Rubbelke, a native of St. Paul, has the most wins in school history with an overall mark of 316-276-2. As a team Hamline is hitting .321 with a .744 OPS and .369 on-base percentage. Gabby Tuhy leads the team with a .452 batting average and has 15 RBI. Josephine Cariveau is at .385 with a team-high 20 RBI. In the circle, Gracie Bond is 5-7 in 13 starts with a 4.37 earned run average and 31 strikeouts.

Series Notes - St. Ben's leads, 46-25
In the last match up, Saint Benedict recorded a 13-0 win over Hamline on April 23, 2023. CSB, which leads the overall series, 46-25, has a 26-10 home record against the Pipers and stand 17-10 in away games with a 46-24 margin in conference play. In the first matchup, CSB took a 2-0 decision on April 22, 1989.   

Saint Benedict faced early schedule among best in DIII and now on 15-2 run
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. 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 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 11-of-12 games, including 9-of-10 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; The Bennies dropped a 7-2 decision against St. Catherine University and defeated the Wildcats 9-0 in game two on April 13. On April 14, CSB swept Macalester College by scores of 15-5, 18-2 by scoring 33 runs on 31 hits. In the past week, CSB has gone 3-1, including split a doubleheader with Saint Mary's on April 20 at home. CSB had a walk-off 6-5 win in the opener and fell, 6-4, in game two. The Bennies swept UW-Eau Claire on Sunday, April 21 by scores of 7-4 and 13-7.

Inside look at Bennies
Directed by 11th-year head coach Rachael Click, the Bennies are hitting. 321 for third in the MIAC with an .847 OPS as a team. Saint Benedict has 276 hits, including a league-high 22 home runs, 53 doubles and five triples. Olivia Tautges, who has two MIAC Player of the Week and the Louisville Slugger/NFCA National Player of the Week honor, owns a 17-game hitting streak. She has 10 multi-hit and 10 multi-RBI games and leads the offense with a .407 batting average and a 1.283 OPS. She has a league-high 10 home runs and 32 RBI. Tautges set the CSB school record for single season home runs with 10 in game two against UW-Eau Claire on Sunday, April 21.

Sophomore infielder Bryn Ruhberg is hitting .375 and she owns a .928 OPS with 30 hits and a .490 on-base percentage. Junior pitcher/outfielder Addy Bowne is batting .394 with a .816 OPS. Senior infielder Bryn Carlstrom has pushed her season-average to .347 and owns a .781 OPS with 29 hits and 17 RBI. Sophomore infielder Cat Smetana is hitting .356 with a .906 OPS and has a team-high 36 hits while junior outfielder Maddy Kubik is hitting .352 with a .772 OPS.

In the circle, sophomore Ellie Peterson (9-4) and junior Addy Bowne (6-2) lead the way, making a total of 36 combined appearances. Peterson has a team-high 88.2 innings with 15 starts and a team-best 63 strikeouts. She has a team-best five complete games and a 3.87 earned run average. Sophomore Olivia Wallace has made 18 appearances with 11 starts while working 62.1 innings with 37 strikeouts.

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.
 
Tautges earns back-to-back MIAC honors
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 13th 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. 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.