NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Carleton College softball team held its on-campus home opener on Saturday, but dropped a pair of games to Bethel University, falling 4-0 and 6-1.
Megan Smith had four hits on the day for the Knights
The Royals (15-3, 4-0 MIAC) rode the right arm of two-time first team All-American Kayla Simacek, who went the distance in both outings.
"It was a great test to start the MIAC season," said Carleton head coach
Amy Erickson. "We had some really great quality at-bats that we will look to continue to take into every game the rest of the season."
Game 1 Recap
Carleton (9-7, 0-2 MIAC) threatened in the bottom of the first, placing runners on first and third before Smith was nabbed at the plate.
Bethel used five singles to push across three runs in the third inning and added another run in the fourth.
That was enough for Simacek, who collected eight strikeouts with no walks while tossing her fourth shutout of the year and improving to 11-1.
Rachel Block absorbed the loss, going the distance as well but yielding the four runs on eight hits.
Smith and
Grace Colburn both had two hits in the game for the Knights.
Game 2 Recap
All six Bethel runs came via two-out hits.
After the Royals scored a single tally in the top of the first, Carleton answered in the home half of the stanza as
Bryanna Schaffer tripled to right field and scored on Colburn's single up the middle.
The Royals tacked on two runs in the third inning and added two more tallies in the fifth frame before closing the scoring with a run in the sixth.
The Knights hit into inning-ending double plays in the second and third frames and did not threaten again until the bottom of the seventh when
Livi Peters doubled and
Ella Collings singled with one out. Simacek, who had only three hits in the contest, was able to escape the jam and close out the victory.
Smith and Peters had two hits apiece, giving the former a seven-game hit streak.
Sydney Trentman (4-4) absorbed the loss, permitting five runs over 5.1 innings of relief.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton's games against Saint Mary's that had previously been moved to Sunday have been postponed to Monday, April 8 due to a weather forecast calling for rain. First pitch on April 8 is 3:30 p.m.
