Box Score / Play-by-Play

SSALEM, Va. — All season long, Jennifer Miller has made a name for herself with her cannon-like right arm.

It was almost if playing the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team should have come with a warning label: "Coaches beware, steal bases at your own risk."

The sophomore from Winona, Minn. — who, ironically, was the Cardinals' starting third baseman a year ago — entered post-season play allowing just eight of 19 base runners to steal off her.

And in the post-season, Miller has been even more stingy, throwing out six of eight base runners in the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional, and gunning down the lone base runner in Thursday's opening-round win over Ithaca in the NCAA Division III Softball Championships.

"It took a little while for me to get comfortable (behind the plate), but I adjusted pretty quickly," said Miller, who was the starting catcher her junior and senior years at Winona Cotter. "I look at any base runner as a challenge. If they get on, it's my job to make sure they don't take any free bases."

Her poise and uncanny ability to throw a perfect strike to second in a split second made her a valuable cog in the Cardinals' defensive machine. Yet, Miller's ability to swing a pretty mean bat went virtually unnoticed.

Until Thursday, that is.

The sophomore found the perfect stage to unveil SMU's version of Miller Time, as she collected a pair of hits — a lead-off double in the SMU's two-run fifth and a lead-off triple in the sixth, when the Cardinals added their fifth and final run — while scoring twice to lead Saint Mary's to its tournament-opening 5-1 victory.

And to prove it wasn't a fluke, Miller repeated her impressive offensive feat Friday in the Cardinals' 7-0 win over The College of New Jersey, lacing a two-out single in SMU's three-run third inning.

Miller did her part in helping SMU stay perfect in the championships and earn a spot against Chapman — the national runner-up the last two years — in tonight's winner's bracket showdown, but she certainly wasn't alone.

Jackie Huegel was a perfect 3-for-3, while Jill Hocking and Ann Munzenmeier both picked up a pair of hits, while Jennifer Meyer laced a two-run home run — the Cardinals' first of the tournament.

But their offensive exploits were overshadowed by the gem turned in by pitcher Teisha Smith, who recorded her fifth straight post-season win, limiting the Lions to just one hit — a single down the right field line in the bottom of the fourth.

The Cardinals opened the scoring in the second as Laura Miller laced a one-out single, moved to second on an error by TCNJ centerfielder Tracy Norlen and scored on Smith's two-out double.

SMU extended their lead to 4-0 in the third, scoring three times off Lions' pitcher Mandy Schenck. Meyer reached on an error to open the inning, stole second and scored on Huegel's RBI double. A wild pitch moved Huegel to third, Gina Rizzardi was hit by a pitch and Laura Miller reached on a infield single to load the bases and set up Jennifer Miller's two-out, two-run single.

SMU made it 5-0 on an RBI single by Hocking in the fourth and made it 7-0 when Jennifer Meyer laced a one-out, two-run home run over the fence in left field.

"I just wanted to make sure to get a good pitch and drive it," said Miller, who hit 319 during the regular season. "I got the pitches I wanted and just swung hard."

A swing, coupled with her golden right arm, give Miller a rather potent one-two knockout punch.

Opposing coaches, beware.

• RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY: The Cardinals second-round game against The College of New Jersey was scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. CST. Due to rain and lightning delays, it didn't get started until 9:15 CST, nearly three hours late..

"You can't control the weather," said SMU coach John Tschida, who admitted throwing nearly 800 pitches in pre-game batting practice trying to keep his team loose. "You'd like games to start on time, but that's not always the case."

The Cardinals' opening-round game started nearly one hour later than scheduled, forcing the Cardinals to "re-warm up" a second time.

"We had (pre-game) batting practice twice," Tschida said. "In a way it was good because we got some extra swings in. But on the other hand, everyone was focused on starting at (the scheduled time) and the delay throws everything out of whack a little bit."

• NIGHT LIFE: The Cardinals have played both of their first two games under the lights at James I. Moyer Sports Complex, something SMU junior Jennifer Meyer admits takes a little getting used to.

"It's a big adjustment," admitted Meyer, who didn't have too much trouble, collecting a pair of hits and making a running catch to rob Ithaca's Vanessa Montorsi of a sure single to open the game Thursday. "There were a few times that I had trouble picking up the ball (of the bat).

• FIRING BLANKS: The SMU-Ithaca game was the only first-round game that didn't end in a shutout (Chapman won 9-0, Roanoke won 4-0 and the College of New Jersey won 3-0).. … Alma added tournament shutout No. 4 with a 4-0 no-hit win over Tufts to start Friday's second day, while Chapman threw the tournament's fifth shutout with a 5-0 win over host Roanoke, while SMU's 7-0 win over The College of New Jersey was shutout No. 6.

• RED HOT: The Cardinals' current 14-game winning streak is the longest among tournament competitors. SMU has also won 25 of its last 26 games.

• CARDINALS' WORKHORSE: Teisha Smith has pitched every inning for the Cardinals in the 2000 post-season, going 3-0 in the Midwest Regional with a 1.33 ERA, then tossing a complete-game three-hitter in SMU's 5-1 win against Ithaca in Friday's national championship opener.

• TOURNAMENT VETERANS: SMU's second-round opponent, The College of New Jersey, has appeared in 19 consecutive NCAA post-season tournaments, including 17 appearances in the national championship series. The Lions have won six national titles, the last coming in 1996, and have finished second six other times.

• THIS AND THAT: Saint Mary's is the first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference team to advance to the NCAA Division III Softball Championships. … The last three national champions have come out of the midwestern states (Simpson in 1997 and again in 1999, and UW-Oshkosh in 1998).