ST. PAUL, Minn. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team (19-13, 11-5 MIAC) won for the seventh time in 10 games after the offense had a big day and pitching was overpowering in a MIAC doubleheader sweep of Hamline (13-21, 3-13 MIAC) on Tuesday (April 22) at Meredith Field.

With the St. Ben's pitching staff allowing just one run across 12 innings in two wins and the offense exploding for 18 runs on 25 hits (.431 batting average), CSB moved to 19-13 overall and 11-5 in the MIAC and into second place.

Leading the offense was first-year Izzy Guttenfelder who was 5-of-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. She had two-multi-hit games, including her first career-three-hit effort. Junior Cat Smetana had three hits, four RBI and two runs scored while junior Bryn Ruhberg was 3-of-5 with three RBI and first-year Lily Treml 3-of-6 with two RBI.

As for the work in the circle, junior Ellie Peterson and junior Olivia Wallace had a combined ERA of 0.58 with one run allowed six hits and three strikeouts across 12 innings. Over the last 10 games, CSB's pitching staff has a 1.87 ERA with 15 earned runs in 63 innings with 48 strikeouts and 21 walks. In that span, Peterson is 3-2 with a 1.05 ERA, four complete games and seven appearances while Wallace is 3-1 with a 1.44 ERA and two complete games and two shutouts.

Game 1 – Saint Benedict 8 Hamline 1
Ellie Peterson tossed a three-hit complete game with three strikeouts to lead CSB to an 8-1 win in the opener of the doubleheader. Peterson improved to 8-7 on the season with her 11^th complete game this season and 31^st game of her career. Peterson did not allow a hit across six innings before Hamline had a run on three hits in the seventh inning.

In the opener CSB collected 10 hits, including three from first-year Lily Treml who had two RBI, and a run scored. Izzy Guttenfelder also had a career high of three hits with a run scored while Cat Smetana had a hit and two RBI.

The Bennies opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning and moved ahead, 3-0, with a single tally in the second frame. Then, CSB broke through for five runs in the seventh inning to put the game away.

Game 2 – Saint Benedict 10 Hamline 0
Olivia Wallace (8-4) won her eighth game of the season by tossing a five-inning complete game shutout while allowing just three hits in leading CSB to a 10-0 run-rule shortened win in game two.

The offense was led by Cat Smetana with two hits, two runs and two RBI. Bryn Ruhberg added two hits and two RBI while Megan Erickson had a hit and two RBI. Izzy Guttenfelder had two hits, a run and RBI as she had back-to-back two-hit games. Twelve different players registered hits as the Bennies had 15 in the game.

St. Ben's opened the scoring with single runs in the first and second frames before scoring three runs in both the third and fourth innings and two more in the fifth inning as CSB won in a run-rule shortened game.

Next for CSB will be a home MIAC doubleheader against St. Scholastica on Saturday, April 26 at the CSB Softball Field. In between games, CSB will recognize the program for 50 years of excellence with special presentations and a reception in the CSB OAC. Then CSB host Gustavus Adolphus at 1/3 p.m., on Sunday, April 27.