EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The College of Saint Benedict softball offense was explosive Saturday at The Sonnentag Fieldhouse, as the Bennies piled up 23 runs and 28 hits while splitting a doubleheader with UW–Eau Claire Blugolds.
St. Benedict (2-2) opened the day with a dominant 12-0, six-inning run-rule victory before dropping a back-and-forth eight-inning thriller, 12-11, in the nightcap to the Blugolds (3-1).
Game 1 - St. Benedict 12 UW-Eau Claire 0 (6 innings)
In the opener, senior
Ellie Peterson (St. Anthony Village, Minn.) was in complete control in the circle, scattering four hits in a shutout performance for her 41st career win. Senior shortstop
Olivia Tautges (Brainerd, Minn.) powered the offense, collecting four hits, scoring three runs, and launching her 20th career home run as the Bennies rolled.
CSB built a 2-0 lead early and carried it into the fifth inning before Tautges' solo homer stretched the margin to three. The Bennies then put the game away in emphatic fashion, erupting for nine runs in the sixth inning. Junior
Olivia Laudenbach (St. Cloud, Minn.) highlighted the surge with a three-run blast, her first career home run.
Sammy Muetzel (Woodbury, Minn.) added a pair of hits as St. Benedict ended the game via the run rule.
Game 2 – UW-Eau Claire 12 St. Benedict 11 (8 innings)
Game two turned into a slugfest, with momentum swinging repeatedly before UW–Eau Claire pulled out the 12-11 victory in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Bennies fell behind early but refused to go quietly. Trailing 5-2 and later 6-3, CSB answered with a six-run fifth inning, keyed by Laudenbach's three-run single and a run-scoring double from Tautges. In the sixth, sophomore Lili Treml (Shakopee, Minn.) crushed her first home run of the season to give the Bennies an 11-9 advantage.
UW–Eau Claire answered in the seventh with a two-run home run to force extra innings, then sealed the win in the eighth on a one-out RBI double.
Treml finished the game with two hits, while five Bennies recorded multi-hit performances. Sophomore
Anna Corbid (Stillwater, Minn.) started in the circle, and
Kaitlyn Pink (Delano, Minn.) worked 5 1/3 innings in relief.
By the Numbers - Hitting
Through four games, the Bennies are batting .345 as a team with a .901 OPS and a .471 slugging percentage. Tautges went 6-for-7 on the day with two RBI, pushing her average to .667 and her OPS to 1.765. Treml is hitting .500 with a 1.444 OPS, while Laudenbach led all players with six RBI in the doubleheader.
St. Benedict now turns its attention to the NFCA Leadoff Classic, where the Bennies will play six games beginning March 6 in Columbus, Georgia.
