ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Macalester College softball team lost a pair of MIAC games to No. 17 Bethel University, 10-3 an 9-0 in the final home games of the regular season Saturday afternoon at the Macalester Softball Complex. The Scots are now 25-13 overall and 12-8 in the conference, while the Royals improve to 25-7, 14-4 MIAC.

In the first game, Bethel scored two runs in the top of the second inning and added another on a solo home run by Autumn Earney in the fourth for a 3-0 lead. Macalester didn't get on the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth, when first year Callia Holland (Akron, Ohio/Hawken) singled home senior Emily Pedersen (Hutchinson, Minn./Hutchinson) to make the score 3-1. But the Royals tacked on seven runs on six hits and an error in the seventh, including a grand slam by Cortney Hokanson, to lead 10-1. Pedersen delivered a two-run double to plate juniors Renee Nicholson (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) and Sophie Futchko (Prince Frederick, Md./Huntingtown) in the bottom of the seventh to close out the scoring.

The Scots had 12 hits in the game, including nine off All-American pitcher Kayla Simacek, but they left eight runners on base. Nicholson was 3-for-3 with a run, while Pedersen and first year Tess Bojorquez (San Clemente, Calif./San Clemente) each had two hits.

Macalester had less success at the plate against Simacek in Game 2, mustering just three hits over five innings. Bethel opened the game with two runs in the first inning, then scored another in the third before breaking through with six runs in the fifth in the 9-0 win. Futchko, Nicholson and first year Elizabeth Welch (Carol Stream, Ill./Glenbard North) had the hits for the Scots.

Macalester wraps up the regular season with a doubleheader at St. Olaf on Tuesday, April 30. The Scots currently sit in sixth place in the MIAC standings heading into the final week of the season. The top six teams make the MIAC Playoffs, which begin on May 9. The first game against St. Olaf begins at 3:00 p.m. in Northfield, Minn.