Following a season-opening sweep of UW-Superior, the Bethel University softball team faced off with UW-Stevens Point Monday at the West St. Paul Dome. The Royals fell in game one 5-1 and shut out the Pointers 5-0 in the second contest, moving their record to 3-1 on the year.
 
Stevens Point struck first after three full innings of scoreless ball, plating four runs in the fourth frame and adding another in the sixth to keep the game out of reach. Bethel's Calli Maki pitched five innings giving up eight hits and all five runs (three earned). Angela Dabu scored on a wild pitch in the sixth inning to avoid a shutout offensively. Maki and outfielder Lexi DeBace each had two hits. The Royals left seven players on base throughout the game.
 
Leading off in game two and having a career day was Bethel's Allie Fauth, who went 3-for-4 and was a home run short of the cycle (she hit a bomb against Superior on Saturday). Kayla Hokanson knocked in Fauth to open up the lead in the first inning and the Royals never turned back, accumulating 12 hits in the game behind Fauth, Amanda Gemuenden and Hannah Schmidt all posting three-hit outings. Schmidt drove in three of the five Royal scores with two singles.
 
Bethel's Kayla Simacek was terrific on the mound, throwing a complete game two-hit shutout while fanning five batters and walking just one.
 
The Royals are off until Sunday, March 8, when they travel to Rochester for single games against Knox College and Augustana College at the Rochester Regional Dome. Game times are 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.