ST. JOSEPH, Minn. -- The gravity of the situation could not have been higher.
But College of Saint Benedict senior
Sammy Muetzel (Woodbury, Minn.) woke up Saturday feeling strangely serene. And that calmness translated into production when her team needed it most.
Muetzel finished 2-for-2 with three RBI - including a huge two-run single in the bottom of the second inning - as the top-seeded and No. 20 ranked Bennies held off No. 2 seed and No. 8 nationally-ranked Saint Mary's, 9-7, before a large and noisy home crowd in the championship game of the MIAC Playoffs.
It marked the first MIAC Playoff title in program history for CSB, which had already claimed sole possession of the regular-season conference championship by going 21-1 in league play.
The Bennies (33-9) - who defeated No. 5 seed St. Catherine, 5-2, in the semifinals earlier in the day - earn the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs. After its 22nd straight win, the Bennies find out who they face next when the pairings are announced Monday.
"Just knowing that we didn't have to ride the bus this morning was huge," a smiling Muetzel said afterward. "We were playing in the place where we're most comfortable. Coming to the field, it felt like a normal game day. Not like the biggest weekend of the season. And honestly, that's so much better. Being able to stay calm like that helped a lot."
Muetzel and her teammates know the flip side of that equation. A year ago, CSB fell, 5-3, to the Cardinals in the conference title game on the road in Winona. Saint Mary's scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to come away victorious.
"The game last year was so close and losing at the end like that was just brutal," said senior shortstop
Olivia Tautges, who finished 2-for-4, including a two-run double in the bottom of the second inning that enabled her to tie her own school record (2024) for RBIs in a season with 47. She now has 123 career RBI - third all-time at CSB.
"We all felt the sting. So coming back today, we were hungry. It's always an intense game when two good teams play each other like this. But we were hungry and we weren't going to let this one get away."
Indeed, the Bennies' resilience showed through on a number of occasions. The Cardinals (36-6) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the second, but CSB answered back with four in the bottom of the inning on the single by Muetzel and the double by Tautges.
The Bennies were far from done. An RBI single by Muetzel in the bottom of the third put her team up, 5-2, before the Bennies extended the lead even further on an RBI double by senior
Cat Smetana (Lake Elmo, Minn.) and a two-run triple by sophomore
Lauren Freeberg (Rogers, Minn.) in the bottom of the fourth inning. With three hits in the second game, Smetana now has 173 in her career - fifth all-time at CSB.
Saint Mary's, though, did not roll over.
Sophomore Brianna Nusbaum belted a two-run homer in the top of the fifth inning and, an RBI single by senior Peyton Berg, cut the gap to 8-5. But senior Elllie Peterson - who came on in relief after tying the program record for victories (56) with a win in the semifinal matchup earlier in the day - got sophomore Olivia Poulin to ground out with the bases loaded to end the threat without further damage.
After CSB senior
Bryn Ruhberg (Lino Lakes, Minn.) scored on a wild pitch to extend their margin to 9-5, the Cardinals scored two more runs in the top of the sixth inning. But Peterson got Berg to ground into a double play to keep the Bennies up by two.
She then struck out two in the top of the seventh en route to putting the game away.
"Little moments make a big difference in games like these," said CSB head coach
Rachael Click, who had taken teams to the MIAC title game three times previously in her 14 seasons at the school (2018, 2023 and last season) only to come up just short.
"And when we needed them today, we got it done," said Click. I'm so proud of this team and the fight they showed. They deserved this win."
Peterson pitched three innings to record the save. Fellow senior
Olivia Wallace (Maple Grove, Minn.) went the first four innings and allowed just four hits to pick up the win, which was her seventh straight as she moved to 12-2 on the season. Freeberg finished 2-for-3 at the plate with a run scored and two RBI, while senior
Olivia Van Hout (Mahtomedi, Minn.) had two hits in four at bats.
"As long as this team keeps fighting like this, we can keep going a long way," Muetzel said. "We have so much potential, and this is definitely the best softball we've played all season. I think we're starting to make a name for ourselves as a program and we still have more to show. We've been underestimated by people, but now they're starting to see how much talent we have here."
CSB 5, St. Catherine 2
Peterson allowed just four hits in seven innings of work as the Bennies beat St. Catherine in their semifinal matchup Saturday morning. It was Peterson's 13th straight winas she improved to 16-5 on the season. The 16 wins ties her for second all-time for a season with Stacie Klaviter (1993), Emily Engelmeier (2014) and Elly Novak (2022).
Tautges had a hit and drove in a run in the victory. Sophomore
Lily Treml (Shakopee, Minn.) had a hit, two walks and two RBI, Ruhberg doubled and had an RBI, while Van Hout added a hit, and two runs scored.
