Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 It was well worth the wait for the Hamline softball team. The Pipers waited an extra three days ... and an hour ... to start the 2015 MIAC season. When they finally did, they came out hitting and never stopped. 

The Pipers banged out the exact same totals in both games in recording a pair of 9-1 wins over Carleton in the MIAC opening doubleheader for both teams Saturday. 

The teams had to wait an extra hour from the schedule 1:00 p.m. first pitch to let Meredith Field dry out some more. As it turned out, the wait did nothing to cool the Hamline artillery. 

Mary-Clare Couillard (pictured) had three hits and Katie Koren added two and two RBI to back Sarah DeMars' three-hit complete game pitching effort in Game 1. HU set the tone in the first inning. Carleton's Cassie Clarke homered in the top of the inning for as brief lead but Jamie Rubbelke responded in kind to lead off the bottom of the inning. Couillard doubled and later scored on a wild pitch -- and the Pipers never looked back. Hamline scored in every inning, finishing with 11 hits on the game. The last of these was Couillard's third hit of the game in the fifth inning, which brought in the run that stretched the margin to eight, ending matters. For her part, DeMars (4-2) kept the ball down after that early home run, frustrating the Knights into eight ground ball outs. 

In the night cap, HU went for the big blow, scoring five times in the second inning. 10 batters paraded to the plate with Rubbelke's two RBI double serving as the big blow. As they did in the opener, Hamline pounded out 11 hits. Couillard added two more hits to push her batting average to .429 and stretch her hitting streak to 10- games in a row. The sophomore second sacker, Jenna Dushaw and Chelsea Koehn had two hits each and that was more than enough for Casey Anderson, who scattered seven hits and improved to 5-3 on the season.  The game ended in the sixth inning when Koehn drilled a double that cleared all three runners off their bases. 

Hamline is now 9-5 overall and has won its last six straight games. They return to action Tuesday, March 31 at Augsburg. The doubleheader begins at 3:30 p.m.