NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College softball team dropped a pair of tight games at cross-town rival St. Olaf College on Saturday. On a very windy afternoon at the Oles' Mabel Shirley Field, the Knights lost the opener, 2-1, and dropped the second game, 6-4.
Cassie Cunniff's (Jr./Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) home run in game one was her sixth of the season, tying the team's single-season record.
Game 1 Recap
Carleton's
Logan Robinson (Sr./Alexandria, Va./National Cathedral School) and the Oles' Jaelyn Orth locked up in a pitcher's duel. The Oles (16-14, 11-1 MIAC) scored in the bottom of the first, but Cunniff's solo homer down the right-field line tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth inning.
Cunniff continues to lead MIAC players in home runs this season, and she is now tied with Cassie Clarke '17 for the program's single-season record (see chart below).
The score remained 1-1 until the seventh. The Knights (16-11, 4-8 MIAC) got the go-ahead run to third base with one out, but Orth came up with back-to-back strikeouts.
In the bottom of the frame, a leadoff single was followed by a sac bunt, walk, strikeout, and an infield single that loaded the bases. Tarah DeCroock stepped to the plate, and an inside pitch pushed further inside by the wind clipped her jersey, resulting in a hit by pitch that forced home the winning run.
Robinson scattered five hits in the hard-luck loss while tossing her seventh complete game of the season. Orth limited the Knights to only three hits, one apiece for
Brooke McKelvey (Sr./West Linn, Ore./West Linn),
Bryanna Schaffer (Fy./San Diego, Calif./Mar Vista), and Cunniff.
Game 2 Recap
McKelvey led off the top of the first with a single and later scored on a RBI groundout by
Madison Collins (Sr./Elmhurst, Ill./York). St. Olaf tied the game in similar fashion in the bottom of the inning.
The hosts scored two more times in the fourth inning and added an unearned run in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.
Cunniff, Schafffer, and Collins had hits in the sixth inning but the Knights scored only one run, and the bottom of the inning saw Shreya Ashok—who finished the game 4-for-4—smack a two-out triple that chased home two important insurance runs.
McKlevey had a RBI double in the top of the seventh, as the Knights pulled to within 6-4 and had the bases loaded before the Oles managed to secure the final out.
Morgan Arnold (Fy./Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) absorbed the loss after allowing two earned runs over 3.1 innings in the circle.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton hosts Augsburg University for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Sunday, April 24.
Most Home Runs (single season)
6 -- Cassie Clarke -- 2015
6 --
Cassie Cunniff -- 2022
5 -- Vickie Gunderson -- 2004
5 -- Kari Christianson -- 2006
5 -- Emily Maland -- 2008
5 -- Jenny Ramey -- 2011
5 -- Jocelyn Friedman -- 2011
5 -- Natalie Maurice -- 2019