The weather may be cold outside but the Hamline softball team's bats were red hot Monday at the West St. Paul dome. The Pipers banged out 17 hits and improved to 4-0 on the 2019 season with 9-4 and 7-4 wins over Wis-Stevens Point. Anna O'Connor (pictured) had a big day with three hits and four RBI. The freshman left fielder also legged out an inside the park home run. Delaney Kohler, who leads the team in the early going in batting average with a .500 mark (6-for-12) also had three hits and scored three runs. 

A five run third inning blew the first game open. O'Connor, Kohler and Megan Rubbelke, who bat 1-2-3 in the order, combined to go 6-for-9 with six runs scored to lead the 10-hit attack. Riley Husom and Kira Krueger (who was the winning pitcher in relief of starter Theresa Klinnert), who bat 4-5 in the lineup, knocked in two runs apiece as did April Jacobs. 

In the second game, the Pipers again struck early, scoring three runs in the second inning and four in the third for a 7-2 lead that held up. O'Connor and Kat Armstrong drove in two runs each for Hamline, which finished the four games in 20 hours with a .303 batting average. Alex Molloy, who relieved starter Sabrina Warden in the fourth and pitched 2.1 innings of one run relief picked up the win with Krueger, who threw a scoreless seventh, gaining a save. 

Hamline is off until March 14 when they start a 10-game trip to Tucson with games against St. Mary's (Indiana) and Cornell (Iowa).