Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score

NORTHFIELD, Minn. - In two games against Gustavus Adolphus on Tuesday, Bethel had a grand total of four hits. Today's doubleheader against Carleton College told a much different story as the Royals slapped the softball around the yard for 27 total hits and 20 runs in wins of 4-1 and 16-9. Rebecca Akerson (So., Lakeville, Minn.) was the winning pitcher of record in both games as she hurled all but 1 1/3 innings for the Royals, earning her eighth and ninth wins of the season.

Neither team scored a run until the top of the third inning of the first game when Kelly Berg (So., South Haven, Minn.) hit a triple to put herself in position to eventually score on a passed ball. The pitching duel continued until Carleton finally tied it up in the bottom of the fifth. It seemed like the two teams were in for extra innings until the Royals finally decided they had had enough. In the seventh Karina Roe (Sr., Grey Eagle, Minn.) started things off by singling to center field, followed by a number of different events including two wild pitches from the Carleton mound to put three players on base. That's when Lynnae Thompson (Jr., Stewartville, Minn.) stepped to the plate and hit a bases loaded double to bring three runners home and give Bethel all it would need to secure a 4-1 win. Thompson has come through in clutch situations twice in the last two weeks as her walk-off seventh inning home run gave Bethel a sweep over Saint Mary's last Wednesday.

Akerson pitched a complete game, allowing just one run on six hits and two walks. She struck out three Knight batters for her eighth win of the season overall and fifth in conference play.

Game two got off to a much quicker start than the first did, and by the end of their first time at-bat the Royals were up by four runs. And if fans thought that number was high, they certainly weren't expecting the five runs the second inning would bring. The Royals had a barrel full of singles this time around, while Thompson again had a double, bringing in a run. Hardly any time had passed before Bethel was winning 9-0.

Understandably, the Royals probably thought they had the game in the bag. But that was before the bottom of the second, when the Carleton Knights brought home nine runners of their own to tie it up. Bethel still had work to do.

Slowly but surely the Royals turned what could have been a disaster into a solid victory. In almost every inning after trading nine runs with the Knights, they brought runs home. Akerson and Roe both had doubles, and many other players were able to tally a hit for themselves in the scorebook. Of Bethel's 27 hits, 21 came in game two today. At the top of that chart was Roe, who had four, followed closely by Ashley Lindberg (Jr., Sartell, Minn.), who had three hits and four RBIs. Thompson and Tonia Erickson (Jr., Welcome, Minn.) also had three hits apiece.

Akerson, who took over pitching in the second inning, struck out seven batters and allowed only three hits and a walk in 5 2/3 innings of relief. At the end of it all, the visiting Royals walked away with a 16-9 victory.

The two wins raises the Royals record to 17-13 overall and 8-4 in the MIAC, while the Knights fall to 3-22 overall and 2-12 in theconference. If the weather goes according to plan, Bethel's next game will be held on Saturday at 1 p.m., at Hamline.