MANKATO, Minn. - The Bethany Lutheran softball team opened their season on Saturday and took on a pair of MIAC opponents in St. Olaf and Saint Mary's. The Vikings defeated the Oles 4-2 to open their day before falling to the Cardinals 5-2.
Bethany Lutheran 4 - 2 St. Olaf
The Vikings would score in the top of the first inning of game one after
Bryn Weidner would get hit by a pitch and come around to score after some successful small ball from Bethany.
Emily Meyer was dominant in the circle in the first few innings of this one and she would hold the Oles scoreless in the first three innings, racking up seven strikeouts in the process.
St. Olaf finally got to Meyer in the fourth as they would get two runners on a before a double to the center field fence scored both and gave them a 2-1 lead headed to the fifth.
Following a scoreless fifth, the Vikings would finally break through in the sixth.
Carly Nelson would single before a triple from
Orla Keys would tie the game at two apiece.
Avery Carlson then stepped up in a pinch hit at-bat and singled to left field to put the Vikings on top.
Bethany would add one more run in the top of the seventh as
Emily Doyle would single to open the inning before an RBI at-bat from Nelson made things 4-2.
Meyer then made quick work of the Oles in the bottom of the seventh, as she put them down in order to secure the victory.
Seven different Vikings had hits in game one with Nelson tallying two in the contest. Meyer was a force in the circle, tossing 7.0 innings, striking out 12, and allowing just two hits.
Saint Mary's 5 - 2 Bethany Lutheran
In game two it was the Cardinals who struck first and they would do so in three of the first four innings including three in the fourth to claim a 5-0 lead after four innings.
Bethany would steal a run back in the fifth as Keys would be hit by a pitch to begin the inning and a
Hayven Linn single woudl put runners on the corners. Linn would then steal second and Keys would advance home on the throw to make the score 5-1.
Kaija Mork would then double to open the sixth inning and she would eventually come around to score on a Weidner at-bat to make it 5-2.
The Vikings would put one more runner on in the seventh inning but the Cardinals would shut the door to claim the win.
Mork took the loss on the mound in the contest, allowing two runs in two innings of work while striking out one.
Bethany will be back in action tomorrow when they take on Carleton and St. Scholastica at 1 and 3:30 p.m., respectively.
