Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Senior leadership takes many forms. Sometimes it is verbal. Sometimes it is unspoken. And sometimes it is just taking the bull by the horns and coming through in the clutch.

Such was the case for Hamline softball center fielder Bethany Hine Thursday against St. Olaf. The Carver, Minn. senior (pictured) lined a bases-loaded triple to break up a scoreless tie in the fifth inning and start the Pipers on their way to a 6-2 victory and a split of the doubleheader. 

St. Olaf won the first game by the same score: 6-2.

In the process, the Pipers kept their second place standing with a 10-4 league mark (14-10 overall). 

Bri Vela (9-4) won her fifth straight start and lowered her ERA to 4.44 by scattering nine hits. She was helped by a sharp Piper defense that playered errorfree ball and squelched a last inning threat with a nifty double play.

After four innings in which neither team mounted a threat, HU loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth frame. After a fielder's choice and a pop out left runners in place, Hine unloaded on the first pitch she saw and sent in screaming into right center field to put the Pipers ahead.

Hamline, in the unusual role of visiting team despite playing on Meredith Field, scored three more runs in an unique rally consisting of thrtee singles, a stolen base, a sacrifice bunt and a pair of fielder's choices that saw the batter end up safe on both occasions.  Despite getting outhit by 9-6, HU stayed in command the rest of the game.

The win helped to erase the memory of the opener ... specifically the third inning. St. Olaf crammed all six runs into that inning despite getting just four hits. There was an error, a walk and a pair of fielder's choices plus a timely three-run double that put HU in a hole they couldn't climb out of. The freshman infield duo of Jamie Rubbelke and Stephanie Borndalte had two hits each as part of a nine-hit attack. HU brought the tying run to the plate in the last inning to no avail.

Hamline returns to action Saturday at Bethel. They return home Sunday to host league leader St. Thomas at 1:00 p.m.