MOORHEAD, Minn. – Powered by the bats of Alyssa Downhour (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Olivia Tautges (Brainerd, Minn.), along with another standout performance in the circle from Ellie Peterson (St. Anthony Village, Minn.), the College of Saint Benedict softball team (15-9, 5-1 MIAC) swept a doubleheader (7-1, 10-8) from Concordia (8-10, 0-4 MIAC) on Saturday at Moorhead High School.

Tautges continued her historic season, blasting two home runs to bring her total to 12—most in the MIAC and among the top two nationally. With those blasts, she set a new program record with 31 career home runs, surpassing Lexi Alm's mark of 30 (2011-14). Tautges is now hitting .506 with a 1.063 slugging percentage and has homered in four of the last six games.

Downhour also stayed hot at the plate, homering in both games. She is batting .400 and has now gone deep in three straight games, driving in eight runs during that stretch, including five on Saturday.

In the circle, Peterson added another milestone performance. The senior recorded her 45th career complete game and earned her 47th career win—fourth-most in program history—in the 7-1 opener. She has now made a program-record 71 starts and ranks fourth all-time with 45 complete games. Over her last four outings, all complete-game victories, Peterson has allowed just four earned runs while striking out 20.

Saint Benedict returns to action Sunday with a road doubleheader against Carleton in Northfield, Minn., scheduled for 1 and 3 p.m.

Game 1 – Saint Benedict 7, Concordia 1

Tautges and Downhour each homered, while Peterson dominated in the circle as the Bennies rolled to a 7-1 victory.

Tautges finished with two hits and two RBI, while Downhour added a two-run homer as part of her continued power surge. After Tautges opened the scoring with a two-run shot, she later doubled in Lauren Freeberg (Rogers, Minn.), and Cat Smetana (Lake Elmo, Minn.) added an RBI single to push the lead to 4-1. Downhour's two-run blast extended the advantage to 6-1.
Freeberg and Downhour each recorded two hits in the opener.

Peterson improved to 7-5 on the season, allowing six hits and one run while striking out six in her fourth consecutive win. She lowered her ERA to 2.56.

Game 2 – Saint Benedict 10, Concordia 8 (8 inn.)

Downhour delivered a three-run home run, Tautges also went deep, and Smetana collected three hits as the Bennies completed the sweep with a 10-8 extra-inning win.

Smetana gave CSB an early 2-0 lead with a two-run single, but Concordia answered to take a 5-3 advantage. Mary Schmidt (Shoreview, Minn.) and Sammy Muetzel (Woodbury, Minn.) responded with RBI doubles to put CSB back in front, 5-4. After the game was tied at five, Freeberg added a sacrifice fly and Tautges homered to make it 7-5. Downhour then delivered the decisive blow with a three-run homer for a 10-5 lead.

In the circle, Kaitlyn Pink (Delano, Minn.) earned the win, tossing the final three innings to improve to 4-2. She allowed two earned runs while striking out six without issuing a walk. Olivia Wallace (Maple Grove, Minn.) started and worked five innings, also striking out six, as CSB pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts.

Tautges and Downhour each had two hits, while Muetzel joined Smetana with three hits, scoring twice and adding an RBI.