ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College softball team earned a 5-2 victory over the University of St. Thomas as part of a split of a MIAC doubleheader Tuesday at the Macalester Softball Complex. The Scots, who won 5-2 before falling 8-0 in Game 2, are now 18-14 overall and 6-8 in the league, while the Tommies are 25-7, 10-4 MIAC.
Macalester took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning of Game 1 on a bases-loaded walk by first year
Julia Carpenter (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore). St. Thomas responded in the top of the third with two runs on an error for a 2-1 lead. In the bottom of the third, junior
Morghan Bean (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine) knotted the score at 2-2 with a single that plated first year
Kaela Jackson (Seattle, Wash./James A. Garfield).
Bean was at it again in the fifth, hitting a double to drive in Jackson and eventually scoring on a single by senior
Nikki Caicedo (Clinton Township, Mich./Chippewa Valley) for a 4-2 advantage. The Scots added another run in the sixth, when a single by sophomore
Claire O'Connor (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) brought home junior
G.G. Gunther (San Francisco, Calif./Lowell) to make the score 5-2.
Bean pitched all seven innings, giving up two unearned runs on six hits while walking six and striking out two in the win. She also went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in at the plate. Jackson ignited the offense with three hits and two runs, while Gunther also contributed two hits. The victory followed last year's 6-5 upset at St. Thomas that ended a 20-year stretch without a win in the series for the Scots.
In the second game, St. Thomas scored two runs in the first, second and fifth innings while adding single runs in the third and sixth innings. Jackson was the lone bright spot for the Scots, as she had a double and a single to finish the day with five hits. Carpenter, Bean, O'Connor and Caicedo also had hits for Macalester.
The Scots, who are currently in eighth place in the MIAC, host sixth-place Gustavus in a key MIAC doubleheader. The first game is set to start at 4:30 p.m. at the Macalester Softball Complex.
