TITUSVILLE, Fla. – The College of Saint Benedict softball team picked up a pair of wins in very different fashion Sunday afternoon to start its spring break trip in Florida.
CSB beat Illinois College 6-4 in eight innings to start the day, then beat St. Joseph's (Maine) 10-0 in five innings to wrap up its first day of competition in Titusville, Fla.
In the first game of the day, CSB got off to a 3-0 start in the first inning against Illinois College when
Emilie Antony and
Claire Boatman singled, and both came around to score when
Kendra Swanson hit a three-run homer. That lead held until the second when Illinois College scored on an RBI single, and the Lady Blues took a 4-3 lead thanks to a two-run homer and an RBI single in the fifth.
Saint Benedict tied the score in the sixth when Boatman singled and scored on an RBI single from
Madison Mikolich, and that's where the score stayed through the regulation seven innings. With international rules in play and a runner on second to start the eighth, Mikolich singled again and sent in Boatman, and Mikolich came around to score on an error by IC's pitcher. The Lady Blues went down in order in the bottom of the inning to help CSB Hold on for the win.
Mikolich went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead CSB against IC, and Antony and Boatman both had two hits.
Ally Hjort threw the first four innings and gave up four runs on seven hits with three strikeouts, and
Grace Gilmore picked up the first win of her collegiate career after throwing the final four innings and giving up a pair of hits with six strikeouts.
The second game of the day against St. Joseph's was all Saint Benedict. Antony drove in a run and Mikolich had an RBI double. The team added two more in the second thanks to two Monk errors, and two more runs in the fourth on RBI singles from Boatman and Mikolich.
Maya Chuppe and
Lauren York both singled to start the fifth and
Codi Zwack walked, and
Jordyn Swoboda ended the game with a grand slam to mark the first hit of her collegiate career.
Boatman and Deming both had two hits for CSB, which finished the second game with 12 hits, and Swoboda had four RBIs. Gilmore picked up her second win of the day after giving up a single hit and striking out three in three innings, and York struck out three batters in the final three innings.
CSB is back in action at 1:30 and 3:45 p.m. CDT Monday when it takes on Emerson and WPI in Plant City, Fla.
