CLERMONT, Fla. – First year Emma Simons delivered the decisive RBI double to lift the St. Olaf College softball to a 5-4 victory over Westminster College (Mo.) after the Oles dropped their first game of the day, 5-1, to Williams College at THE Spring Games on Saturday at Legends Way Ballfields.

Simons broke a 4-4 tie with a run-scoring double in the fifth inning to help St. Olaf (4-8) pick up a one-run win over Westminster (2-9) after the Oles had lost their first five one-run games of the spring. Earlier in the day, Williams (5-4) scored five early runs on its way to handing St. Olaf a 5-1 defeat.

Sophomore Jaelyn Orth picked the first win of her collegiate career against the Blue Jays, holding Westminster scoreless the rest of the way after entering the game in the fourth.

St. Olaf finishes off its six games in Florida by facing No. 10 Tufts University (8:30 a.m. CDT) and Elmhurst University (10:45 a.m. CDT) on Sunday, March 27. After that, the Oles head to Georgia for two more doubleheaders next week.

Williams 5, St. Olaf 1 | Box Score

Williams scored all five of its runs over the first two innings and got a complete game in the circle from Chan to pick up the win despite having just three hits in the game. Chan held St. Olaf to one run on five hits over seven innings, walking two and striking out three.

The Ephs jumped out to an early lead with a pair of sacrifice flies in the bottom of the first and took advantage of an error to score two unearned runs on a double by Bailey Burger-Moore.

The Oles got their lone run of the game in the fifth on a fielder's choice ground out off the bat of senior Kaleigh Santmyer, which came after St. Olaf filled the bases with one out on two singles and a walk. Five Oles had one hit apiece in the loss.

Fifth-year senior Abby Grismer threw 4.1 innings of no-hit relief of senior Carly Dammann, allowing just two walks and striking out two. Nine of the 13 outs Grismer got came on fly balls. Dammann suffered the loss after giving up five runs (two earned) on three hits and four walks in 1.2 innings.

St. Olaf 5, Westminster (Mo.) 4 | Box Score

St. Olaf led 4-0 after two innings before Westminster tied the game at 4-4 after four, but Simons provided the decisive go-ahead RBI double in the fifth to help the Oles snap their five-game losing streak. The game was the first-ever meeting between the two programs.

Simons reached base safely in all three of her plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a walk, while Grismer drove in a pair of runs with ground outs. Santmyer and sophomore Katie Weisheit added run-scoring hits as well.

Orth earned the win by throwing 3.1 shutout innings of relief of classmate Jenna Peschel. Orth struck out three while giving up three hits and one walk after Peschel was charged with four runs (one earned) over the first 3.2 innings.

St. Olaf plated two runs in each of its first two innings at the plate to take an early 4-0 lead. In the first, sophomore Anne Fossum drew a leadoff walk, stole second, and later scored on a ground out by Grismer. Weisheit followed with an RBI single through the right side to bring in Santmyer who had reached on an error.

Like in the first, the Oles got their first two batters on base in the second and brought them both around. Fifth-year senior Jordan Melz and senior Katie Howard started the inning with a walk and a bunt single before moving up a base on a ground out by Fossum. Santmyer brought in Melz with a single to right and Grismer plated Howard with a ground out to make it 4-0.

The Blue Jays cut their deficit in half with two runs in the third and scored two unearned runs in the fourth to tie the game. With the score still tied, senior Tarah DeCroock led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and moved to third with no outs on consecutive wild pitches. Simons proceeded to drive DeCroock in with a double to left-center field for the eventual game-winning run.

Westminster put a runner in scoring position in both the sixth and seventh innings but could not generate a game-tying run off of Orth, who pitched around a two-out double in the sixth and back-to-back two-out singles in the seventh.