DUNDAS, Minn. - The Carleton College softball team opened up the 2022 campaign with some red-hot offense, scoring 33 runs across a pair of wins against Martin Luther College. The first game was a 21-5 (5 inn.) blowout, while the second was a comeback 12-10 victory.
 
"Solid start to the season. It was nice to get our younger players some opportunities tonight," said Carleton head coach Amy Erickson. "Our offense was definitely raring to swing from the start, and it was good to see us battle in a come-from-behind endeavor too."
 
Game 1 Recap
 
Carleton's 21-run outburst included a 10-run bottom of the first inning. Those are the most runs the Knights have scored in an inning and a game since Feb. 25, 2017. That day Carleton scored 11 times during the third inning, en route to a 26-1 (5 inn) result.
 
Tonight, Faith Hanshaw (Jr./The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands Christian Acad.) earned the win and twirled 4.0 scoreless innings on the rubber, while the Carleton (2-0, 0-0 MIAC) offense supported her with 21 runs through their only four innings of at bats, including a 10-run first frame. Hanshaw recorded 6 of her 12 outs via punchout, while giving up only three hits and no free passes.
 
Moira Rankin (Fy./Potomac, Md./Wootton) saw her first collegiate action, pitching the fifth frame to close out the win.
 
On the offensive end, all nine Carleton batters recorded at least one hit during the first-inning outburst, and they all would record an RBI by the third inning. Leadoff hitter Brooke McKelvey (Sr./West Linn, Ore./West Linn) crushed a 2-run home run as the highlight of the bottom of the first, during which all 10 Carleton runs came across to score with two outs.
 
Carleton added five runs apiece in the second and third innings. All told, 14 players picked up hits in the season lid lifter, 14 scored at least one run, and 10 had a RBI.
 
Martin Luther (0-2, 0-0 UMAC) scored all five of its runs in the top of the fifth.
 
Bryanna Schaffer (Fy./San Diego, Calif./Mar Vista), Ella Collins (Fy./Ashburn, Va./Riverside), and Rankin all tallied their first career base hits for Carleton.
 
Game 2 Recap
 
Logan Robinson (Sr./Alexandria, Va./National Cathedral School) got the starting nod in game two, giving up five earned runs in 2.2 innings. Outside of a single start in the shortened 2020 season, it was her first game action in almost three years. Ally Norton (So./Norfolk, Mass./King Philip Regional) came into pitch in relief of Robinson, getting the final out of the third. She earned the win, surrendering five runs (three earned) over the closing 4.1 innings.
 
Martin Luther shook off lopsided result from game one and got out to a 5-0 lead thanks to a four-run third inning. Carleton stormed back in the bottom of the frame, as seven Knights crossed the plate to give the hosts a two-run lead.
 
The visitors got right back to business, taking a 9-7 lead in the fourth inning. Lisa Hoffer's solo shot in the fifth made it 10-7 in favor of MLC, but McKelvey answered back, knocking in two runs and scoring the third during a bottom-of-the-fifth rally to tie things up at 10-10.
 
Hanshaw plated in Ella Collins as the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth, while McKelvey's fourth RBI of game two was an insurance run to make the score 12-10. Norton tossed a scoreless seventh thanks to a heads-up play by the Knights defense as Carleton nabbed a Martin Luther runner retreating back to third base for the final out of the contest.
 
Many Carleton players recorded impressive offensive outputs in the doubleheader. McKelvey and Emma Kartheiser (Jr./Oronoco, Minn./Century) each batted in six runs. Schaffer, Madison Collins (Sr./Elmhurst, Ill./York), and Cassie Cunniff (Jr./Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) each tallied multiple doubles on the night, with Cunniff swiping a base in each contest as well.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton has another doubleheader at the Dundas Dome on Saturday, Feb. 26, hosting another UMAC opponent in the Crown College Storm. Game one is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.