Box Score On a cold night in Minneapolis, Hamline's softball team swung some hot ... and timely ... bats. They whacked out 20 hits and four home runs en route to splitting a doubleheader with St. Benedict. After losing the opener, 7-5, Hamline came back for a come-from-behind 9-8 win in the second game.

As a result, they stayed two games over .500 in the MIAC with a 5-3 mark and even at .500 overall with a 9-9 standard. 

As was the case Sunday against Macalester, Hamline started out like they were going to win the first game, too. Laura Randall's two RBI single was the big blow in a four-run fourth inning that propelled HU into a 5-2 lead. Unfortunately, the Piper defense was a bit leaky, committing five errors in all. The Blazers used those miscues with some solid hitting in their own right to score five runs in the last three innings and claim the win. 

In the second game, HU jumped quickly to a 4-0 lead, fell behind 8-5 and then used the long ball to rally for the victory. Cecily Abbadessa hit a pair of solo shots, Stephanie Borndale hit a two-run job and Lauren Clouston supplied the final blow in the rallying triumph.  Bri Vela was roughed up early, surrendering 10 hits and six earned runs. But she steadied late, retiring the last seven batters in a row and earned the CG victory.

HU banged out five hits in a six-hitter span (including Abbadessa's first home run) to lead 4-0 after one inning. But CSB jumped right back, getting two in the second, four in the third (helped by an error) and two in the fifth for the 8-5 lead. Borndale gave the Pipers when she drilled her homer in the bottom of the fifth to make it 8-7. Despite getting runners to second and third with one out (including Jenna Dushaw's third hit of the game), HU was unable to score.

So it was still 8-7 when Abbadessa led off the seventh with her gametying blow. Two outs later, Clouston, who had entered the game as a pinch-hitter, ended the night on a happy note by hitting a 1-2 pitch well over the left field fence for her first longball of the season and fifth in her collegiate career. 

Hamline's scheduled April 18 dh at St. Olaf has been moved back a week to Thursday, April 25. If weather allows it, the Piper will return to Edor Nelson Field at Augsburg on Saturday, April 20and then host St. Thomas at Meredith Field on Sunday, April 21. Both weekend twinbills are slated for 1:00 p.m. starts.