ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Carleton College softball team dropped a pair of one-run games at St. Catherine University, falling 3-2 and 7-6 (9 inn.)
Game 1 — St. Catherine 3, Carleton 2
The Wildcats (15-7, 4-0 MIAC) plated a run in the first and two more in the fourth, while the Knights (10-12, 0-6 MIAC) were held hitless over the first five innings.
Natasha Paez broke up the no-hitter with a home run to right center to begin the sixth inning. It was her first round tripper of the season and the third of her collegiate career.
Carleton made it interesting in the seventh.
Adriana Wiggins led off with a single to right and raced on
Gloria Hronek's double to the left-field corner. Hronek, representing the tying run was sacrificed to third but was stranded there when the final out was recorded.
Alexa Carlstrom improved to 6-3 on the year as she went the distance for St. Kate's, allowing the two runs on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts.
Rachel Block (2-5) took the loss, permitting three runs over 6.0 innings of work.
Game 2 — St. Catherine 7, Carleton 6 (9 inn.)
Carleton erased deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 only to see St. Catherine rally in the bottom of the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
The Wildcats scored twice in the opening frame before
Megan Smith's third-nning double brought home Paez with the first Knight run of the game.
St. Catherine added a two-out unearned tally in the bottom of the fourth before Carleton took its first lead of the day with a three-run rally in the sixth.
Jade Thach singled home the first run, and after a Wildcat error permitted the tying run to score, she raced stole home on the back end of a double steal.
The hosts tied the game at 4-4 when Mayci Larson opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a home run to left field.
The Knights regained the lead in the top of the eighth, as Hronek escaped a rundown and scored the first run and a wild pitch permitted
Emily Vogel to score with two down. The Wildcats answered with two tallies in the bottom of the frame, knotting the score at 6-6.
After Carleton was unable to bring home the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, St. Catherine ended the contest with a walk-off double from Mayci Larson to chase home Helen McKinnon, who had been placed at second base to begin the inning.
Carleton is now 2-2 in extra-inning games this season.
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton is schedule to host the College of Saint Benedict for a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader on Sunday, April 12.
