St. Peter, Minn. – Sophomore Nathalee Boissiere (Plymouth, Minn.) homered twice and drove in six runs in two games to lead the Gustavus softball team to a sweep over St. Olaf College on Sunday afternoon at Hollingsworth Field. The Gusties took game one by the score of 7-2 before capturing a 9-5 win in game two. With the pair of wins, Gustavus improves to 10-8 overall and 5-1 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC), while St. Olaf drops to 0-12 overall and 0-4 in league play.
Gustavus 7, St. Olaf 2
The Gusties opened Sunday afternoon’s doubleheader with a 7-2 win in game one. After a two-out double to right field by Becca Walz gave St. Olaf a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Gustavus wasted little time responding in the bottom half of the inning. Nathalee Boissiere crushed a two-run home run to left center field, scoring Brittany Brenke (Sr., Le Sueur, Minn.) from second and giving the Gusties a 2-1 lead.
Gustavus would not give that lead up the rest of the way, as it went on to score two more in the bottom of the third. Kat Dahl (Sr., Luverne, Minn.) went deep to center field to lead off the inning. Four batters later, Shelby Nosan (Sr., Baudette, Minn.) scored on a sacrifice fly from Boissiere to give the Gusties a 4-1 advantage.
St. Olaf narrowed the gap in the top of the fourth when Stephanie Borndale singled up the middle to score Brooke Paradise from second. However, Gustavus had the answer again in the bottom of the inning when Lydia Wagner (Fy., Zumbrota, Minn.) singled, stole second, and later scored on a Kat Dahl single to put her team on top 5-2.
After holding the Oles scoreless in each of the next two innings, the Gusties tacked on two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to secure the 7-2 win.
Kat Dahl went 2 for 3 with a home run and three runs batted in (RBI) to lead the way for the Gusties at the plate. Boissiere followed with three RBI of her own thanks to a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly in a 1 for 2 outing. Stephanie Borndale went 3 for 3 with an RBI to lead the Oles.
Sarah Rozell (Jr., Lakeville, Minn.) improved to 5-3 in the circle. The junior gave up two runs on just five hits and struck out five in five innings of work. Danielle Collins suffered the loss in a six-inning effort.
Gustavus 9, St. Olaf 5
Game two began in a back-and-forth battle. Gustavus was the first to get on the scoreboard with a run in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI-single from Carly Klass (Jr., Richfield, Minn.).
St. Olaf came back to score three runs in the top of the second and take the lead. A pair of singles led off the inning. Alex Lebens followed with a ground-rule double to score Becca Walz from second. A single to center scored Brooke Paradise from third, and Lebens scored on a Gustavus throwing error for the three Ole runs to take the 3-1 lead.
The Gusties answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second. Again, the inning started with a bang, as Jaden Fischer (Jr., Brooklyn Park, Minn.) launched a shot over the fence in left center to cut the deficit to 3-2. Jessica Williams (So., Plymouth, Minn.) followed with a double to right center and later scored on a St. Olaf error. Shelby Nosan reached on the error and came around to score on a Kaitlyn Bicek (So., Northfield, Minn.) single through the left side. The three-run inning gave Gustavus a 4-3 lead headed to the third.
Gustavus went on to score another run in the bottom of the third, three more in the fourth, and one in the fifth to open up a 9-3 lead before the Oles scored a pair of runs in the top of the sixth, but it was too little, too late for St. Olaf in the 9-5 loss.
Carly Klass led the way for the Gusties at the plate with a perfect 3 for 3 performance. Fischer and Bicek followed, each going 2 for 3, while Boissiere knocked in three RBI and Nosan was 2 for 4 with a pair of runs batted in and two runs scored. Alex Lebens was the only Ole to record more than one hit. Lebens went 2 for 3 with a double and a home run, which led to three RBI and two runs scored.
Jessica Williams earned the win on the rubber, spreading out four hits and allowing three runs in five innings of work. She improves to 3-4 as the pitcher of record. Abbey Smith suffered the loss for the Oles in a five-inning, eight-run performance.
The Gusties will be back in action on Tuesday, April 8th when they host UW-La Crosse at 3:00 p.m.