DUNDAS, Minn. – The Macalester College softball team kicked off the 2018 campaign with a split with Bethany Lutheran College Friday evening at the Dundas Dome. The Scots fell 9-3 in Game 1 before winning the second game, 7-5.

In the first game, doubles by senior Morghan Bean (Muscatine, Iowa/Muscatine), junior Claire O'Connor (Piedmont, Calif./Piedmont) and first year Kennedy Kechely (Rochester, Minn./Mayo) in the first inning put Macalester ahead, 3-0. But the Scots' bats managed just four hits the rest of the way, as Bethany Lutheran plated four runs in the third, a run in the fourth and four more runs in the fifth for a 9-3 victory. O'Connor went 2-for-2 and walked twice for the Scots.

In Game 2, sophomore Kaela Jackson (Seattle, Wash./James A. Garfield) answered a Vikings' run in the top of the first inning with a two-run homer in the bottom of the first for a 2-1 lead. Macalester tallied three runs in the third on a RBI single by first year Kate Lawhead (Battle Ground, Wash./Prairie) and a two-run double from senior Vivi Gregorich (Boulder, Colo./Boulder). In the bottom of the fifth, Kechely doubled home Gregorich, then scored on an error for a 5-1 lead. Bethany Lutheran scored two runs apiece in the sixth and seventh innings, but the Scots held on for their first win of the season.

Junior pitcher Sophie Migacz (McHenry, Ill./McHenry West) tossed 5 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run and three walks while fanning five to earn the win. Gregorich, Kechely, junior Samantha Barkan (New York, N.Y./Friends Seminary) and first year Audrey Meade (Cedar Hills, Utah/Pleasant Grove) each had two hits in the victory. 

The Scots compete at the ACM Tournament, held at the Rochester Dome Mar. 3-4. Macalester opens the tournament with games against Ripon and Knox on Mar. 3.