MANKATO, Minn. - The Carleton College softball team began the 2023 season with victories over a pair of non-conference opponents. Even with an 8:00 a.m. first pitch, the Knights bats woke up early, and Carleton triumphed over both Martin Luther College, 9-1 (5 inn.), and Bethany Lutheran College, 10-2.
 
GAME ONE RECAP
 
Faith Hanshaw (Sr./The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands Christian Academy) got the starting nod and pitched a complete game while allowing a pair of unearned runs over 5.0 innings. The Knights' ace tallied four strikeouts and scattered six hits while picking up the win.
 
Carleton got the scoring started in the second inning, when Adriana Wiggins (Fy./Long Beach, Calif./Wilson) singled in her first collegiate at bat, plating Amy Chen (Jr./Kirkland, Wash./Lake Washington).
 
Bryanna Schaffer (So./San Diego, Calif./Mar Vista) extended the lead with her first collegiate home run in the next frame, a two-run blast.
 
Martin Luther made it close again with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth, but Carleton answered in the bottom of the inning with a seven-run rally. Laurie Avila (Sr./Sugar Grove, Ill./Oswego) and Grace Colburn (Fy./Bainbridge Island, Wash./Bainbridge) tripled during the inning, while Helen Moses (Jr./Denver, Colo./Denver East) had a RBI double, and Cassie Cunniff (Sr./Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) stole home.
 
GAME TWO RECAP
 
Schaffer started in the circle for the Knights in their second game of the morning. It was her first taste of pitching action in her collegiate career, following a rookie season where she started all 37 games at shortstop. The only blemish in her 2.0 innings of work was a solo home run by the Vikings' Haley Stockman.
 
Carleton began the game hot. Cunniff tripled to leadoff and scored on a wild pitch to spark a three-run first frame. The Knights scored two more times in the second, again thanks to Cunniff. Her second triple chased home Wiggins, and Cunniff scored on a sacrifice fly hit by Livi Peters (Fy./Rockledge, Fla./Viera).
 
Haley Stockman hit a solo shot for the Vikings (1-1), but that was all Bethany Lutheran would get. Hala Soliman (Sr./Harrisburg, N.C./Lake Norman Charter) earned the win with 4.0 innings of scoreless work, allowing only three hits and a walk. Morgan Arnold (So./Wheaton, Ill./Wheaton Warrenville South) shut the door on Bethany Lutheran with a scoreless seventh inning.
 
Cunniff, Schaffer, and Wiggins each had four hits and a pair of runs batted in across the two games. Laurie Avila had three hits, including a double and a triple. As a team the Knights collected 20 hits in only 11 innings of offense.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton faces Crown College for a doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 25. The dual slate will be played at the Dundas Dome, three miles south of the Carleton campus. Game one is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start.