Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Vadnais Heights, Minn. - The 2013 Bethany softball season began under the climate controlled comfort of the Vadnais Heights Dome against the College of St. Catherine. Both games were one run affairs, but both games ended with losses for the Vikings.

In Game 1, Bethany belted four home runs, including a pair from starting pitcher Nicole Starkson (Mankato, Minn. / West). She homered to start the scoring in the second and went yard again as part of a 3-run fifth inning. Amanna Berthusen (Marshalltown, Iowa) hit a two-run shot over the fence to begin the frame to help put the Vikings up 6-5 going into the seventh inning.

After getting a ground out to start the bottom of the seventh, Starkson gave up a game-tying home run to St. Catherine's Alyssa McKee sending the game to extra innings.

Kelsey Pekarna (Jordan, Minn.) homered to lead off the top of the eighth giving Bethany the lead again. St. Catherine scored two in the bottom of the eighth to win with two outs. Alyssa Luedtke tripled home the tying run from third base and then scored the winning run on a suicide squeeze from Kaitlyn Luedtke giving St. Catherine the 8-7 win.

In Game 2, the Vikings did all they could do to comeback after giving up five first inning runs, but came up on the wrong end of 6-5 game. The game only went five innings due to time constraints.

After Pekarna hit her second home run of the day in the second, Starkson nailed a 3-run shot in the third to pull Bethany within 6-4 after three innings.

After Starkson scored in the top of the fifth to cut the deficit to one, Shannon Heitz struck out to end the game with the tying run on third.

Bethany (0-2) next plays late Friday night at the Augsburg Dome in Minneapolis against Macalester for a doubleheader beginning at 10 p.m.