Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 If Tuesday's results are any indication, the Hamline softball team is ready for the MIAC playoffs. The Pipers, seeded fourth in the playoffs that start Friday, improved to 25-15 overall with 8-0, 5-3 wins at Wis-River Falls Tuesday. There were hitting and pitching heroes for HU, which finished tied for third with St. Catherine in the MIAC at 15-7 but will get the lower seed due to the tiebreaker formula. 

Jamie Rubbelke was one Piper hitter who was ready from the start. The senior SS opened both games with home runs and now has eight on the season. Her .658 slugging average leads the team. The North St. Paul, Minn. native scored three times and drove in two in the opener. Aubree Douglass drilled a pair of homers and batted in five runs. The freshman catcher (pictured) took over the team lead from Rubbelke in RBIs, 35-34. 

That was plenty for junior pitcher Sarah DeMars, who scattered just two hits in throwing her fourth shutout of the season, improving to 12-8 on the season.

In the regular season finale, the Pipers shot to a quick lead. In addition to Rubbelke's homer, Chelsea Koehn knocked in a first inning run with a sacrifice fly. In the second, with two out, Rubbelke was intentionally walked -- even though nobody else was on base. Mary-Clare Couillard sent her home with a double to make it 3-0 and HU was seemingly off and running. Douglas had two more hits and Koehn went 2-for-4. The Falcons tied the game at 3 in the fourth. It stayed that way until the seventh when Sidney Fransiscus broke the tie with a two RBI single. Casey Anderson threw five scoreless innings to get the win, improving to 13-7 overall. 

HU is headed to the conference playoffs for the second year in a row. They will face the host school, St. Thomas, on the latter's field on Friday, May 6, at 2:30 p.m. St. Catherine and Gustavus Adolphus face each other at 5:00 p.m. The tournament is double elimination. The Friday winners play at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 7 with the losers tangling at 1:30 p.m. There is a second game set for later on Saturday. The championship game is Sunday, May 8 at 11:00 a.m. with an if necessary game to follow. The tournament winner gets an automatic berth in the NCAA D-III tournament.