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Softball Splits against St. Kates

Jason Welle
April 19, 2001

The St. Olaf College fastpitch team split its home doubleheader against the College of St. Catherine today. St. Kate?s overcame an early St. Olaf lead in the first game to force extra innings, but the Oles finally prevailed 5-4 in the eleventh inning. The Wildcats beat the Oles 8-3 in the second game, shortened to six innings due to darkness.

St. Olaf opened the afternoon?s scoring in the bottom of the first when sophomore Kelly Frederick (Woodland, Minn.) knocked in sophomore Kirsten Haaland (Billings, Mt.) with an RBI double. The Oles added two more in the third when Haaland drove in senior Christy Boraas (Madison, Minn.) before Frederick hit another RBI double to bring in Haaland. Kate Stodolka and Patty Bredemus scored runs in the fourth and fifth innings respectively to bring the game within striking distance for St. Kate?s. In the top of the seventh, Wildcat sophomore Clare Grundtner hit a two-out triple before scoring on a passed ball, knotting the game at three and forcing extra innings. Each team picked up another run in the tenth inning to bring the score to 4-4 before the Oles finally ended the marathon by scoring in their half of the eleventh. Sophomore Meredith Larson (Mason City, Iowa) tagged up on a sacrifice fly by senior captain Sarah Cherry (Faribault, Minn.) to win the game 5-4. Junior Carrie Cooley (Villard, Minn.) and senior Christina Moses (New Brighton, Minn.) each got three hits in the winning effort. Firstyear pitcher Melissa Ohm (Rochester, Minn.) picked up the win.

The second game was all Wildcats. St. Kate?s scored one run in each of the first three innings before St. Olaf got on the board. Cherry?s lead off triple in the third inning enabled her to score and cut the Wildcat?s lead to 3-1. St. Kate?s brought eight batters to the box in a demoralizing fourth inning where they scored four runs and opened up a 7-1 lead that they would not relinquish. St. Olaf picked up two runs in the bottom of the fifth, but St. Kate?s added one more insurance run in the sixth before darkness forced the game to be called. Cherry led the offense for St. Olaf, reaching base all three times she came to bat. Firstyear Mehgan Urbanski (Circle Pines, Minn.) took the pitching loss for the Oles.

The split gives the Oles their first conference win, bringing them to 1-5 in the MIAC and 5-11 overall. St. Kate?s moves to 8-9 overall, 4-4 in league play. The teams will see action again on Saturday, April 21st, when the Oles travel to the University of St. Thomas and the Wildcats will host Augsburg College. Both games start at 1:00 pm.

Contact Pat Buresh at 507-786-3315 or buresh@stolaf.edu.