Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Prior to the season, the Hamline softball team was one of three projected by the league's coaches to battle for the fourth and final playoff spot in the conference.

On a chilly Tuesday in St. Joseph, they showed why.

The Pipers battled from behind twice to pin a pair of 6-5 defeats on St. Benedict to move into a tie for second place in the MIAC with a 7-3 won-loss mark. There were plenty of heroes to choose from as HU also moved over the .500 mark overall at 13-12-1.

Here are some of  the candidates:

• Chelsea Koehn hit a three-RBI home run to lift the Pipers to a win in the first game.
• Casey Anderson threw 3.1 scoreless innings of relief and was the winning pitcher in the first game. In the second game, she started on the mound but decided the game at the plate with the game-winning RBI in the 9th inning.
• Brooke Chapman tossed 4.1 scoreless innings of relief to gain the win in the second game. She also went 4-4, scored a run and drove in one.
• Jamie Rubbelke (pictured) had two hits in each game. The shortstop is now hitting .402 and has a seven-game hitting streak. 
• Jenna Dushaw had three hits in the first game and added one in the second. 
• Brittney Bredemus, who entered the game with a .216 batting average, had three hits in the second game.

Get the idea? This was truly a team sweep.

In Game 1, HU scored three second inning runs but CSB responded with five tallies in the fourth for a 5-3 lead. Koehn turned the game in a new direction with her three run homer in the sixth inning. Anderson, who replaced starter Sarah DeMars, had some dicey moments in the seventh when the Blazers loaded the bases with two outs. But she induced a fly ball out to end the game.

The second game was just as tense. Hamline started well as Chapman drove in a first inning run with a single and kickstarted a five hit, two run third inning with a double. The Blazers responded in kind and led 5-4 in the sixth when Bredemus singled and raced home on Rubbelke's double to tie the game. It was still 5-5 in the 9th when Chapman led off with a single and eventually scored on a single by Anderson.

The Pipers slapped out a season high 17 hits in all and left a dozen runners on base. Chapman improved to 5-0 on the season with the win. 

Hamline now heads back to the comfort of Meredith Field for doubleheaders with St. Mary's on April 17 and St. Olaf on April 18. Both twinbills are slated for 3:30 p.m. starts.