DUNDAS, Minn. - The Hamline softball team (3-3) defeated UW-Superior (5-5) twice on Saturday night, winning game one 8-0 in five innings and game two 5-2. This was the first sweep of the season for the Pipers after splitting with Northland and losing both to UW-Stevens Point earlier this month.
 
Hamline will now have a considerable break before they open conference play, beginning the MIAC season with a doubleheader at Gustavus on April 3^rd.
 
GAME 1: HAMLINE 8, UW-SUPERIOR 0 (5 INNINGS)
In game one, the Pipers used a seven-run fifth inning to earn a run-rule victory over the Yellowjackets. Senior Megan Rubbelke went 3-3 in the game with a pair of RBIs and junior Theresa Klinnert went 2-2 with a walk and an RBI to lead the offense in the win.
 
Senior Alex Molloy pitched all five innings for HU, scattering four hits and striking out four batters to make her first win of the season a shutout.
 
The Pipers had hits in the first two innings, but were unable to make anything happen, leaving it scoreless until the third, when Amber Peterson tripled and was later driven in on a grounder from sophomore Gabby Cook.
 
HU would threaten again in the fourth, with two runners on, but they would not score again until the fifth, when the offense exploded for seven runs.
 
Peterson once again started the rally, getting on with a walk. Cook then singled and senior Riley Husom walked to load the bases. A single down the left field line from Rubbelke drove in two runs and a single from Molloy drove in Husom.  Klinnert was the next to get a hit, scoring Rubbelke on a single. Senior April Jacobs walked to load the bases and first year Kiana Island drove in a run when she was hit by a pitch.  Klinnert later scored on a passed ball and Jacobs, who was the eighth run, scored on a wild pitch to end the game.
 
GAME 2: HAMLINE 5, UW-SUPERIOR 2
Hamline kept their offense rolling into the second game, with nine hits throughout the seven innings. Three Pipers recorded two hits each, as Klinnert went 2-3 (hitting a double and a homer), Island went 2-2, and sophomore Nayeli Pallais-Yllescas went 2-4.
 
Klinnert also earned the win on the mound, pitching the full seven innings, allowing one earned run on six hits and four walks. She also struck out a season-high nine batters in the win, improving to 2-1 on the year.
 
 The Pipers scored right away in the top of the first as Klinnert doubled to score Rubbelke, who had reached on an error earlier in the inning. The Yellowjackets responded in kind with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning to tie it at one after the first.
 
HU added a run in each of the next two innings, as Pallais-Yllescas singled and would later score on a single from senior Cora Stallcup in the second, and Klinnert homered in the third.
 
The fourth and the fifth innings were quiet for both teams, but a single from Cook in the sixth drove in a pair of runs for HU. UW-Superior had three hits in the bottom of the sixth, but would only get one across and Klinnert and the Piper defense would strand two runners on in the seventh to claim the 5-2 win.