St. Bonifacius, MN - MLC softball had its best performance of the 2026 season Wednesday evening, taking down the Crown Polars 10-2 in the conference opener.

MLC had an all-around game from the plate with a season high in runs (10) and hits (15), in pitching, with a season best in strikeouts (7) from starter Kieghtan Rank, and the Knights played mistake-free softball in the field with no errors committed.

The Knights got the momentum going with an early 3-1 lead after two innings of play. Freshman catcher Kaylee Pickering hit a 2-run double in the top of the first, scoring Chloe Berg and Sarah Yonkovich. Fellow freshman Kiara Humann added the third run in the top of the second off of an RBI single.

The Polars made it 3-2 after the bottom of the third, but the Knights came back with a strong response in the top of the fifth, scoring four runs off of five hits to go up 7-2. Pickering, Chloe Koschnitzke, and Rhiannon Schaefer all recorded RBI singles in the frame to give MLC a decisive advantage.

The Knights collected four more hits in the top of the sixth inning and tacked on three additional runs to put the contest out of reach.

In six innings on the pitcher's circle, Rank allowed just 2 runs and only walked one batter in addition to her seven K's. Pickering led MLC in hits (3) and RBI (3), while Yonkovich also finished with a team best in hits (3) and runs (3) along with Berg.

MLC will play games two and three of the series with Crown on Saturday, March 28, at 1 and 3 p.m.