Box Score

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team put on an offensive display in its winner's bracket game against Muskingum at the NCAA Division III National Championships Friday evening.

The Cardinals pounded out 10 hits and put runners on base in all seven innings — including at least two runners on in the first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh innings.
Offensively, did everything right.

Everything, that is, except score runs, that is.

The Lady Muskies dodged every bullet SMU fired at them, and when Jackie Huegel's (Alta Vista, Iowa) apparent single up the middle was snared by shortstop Julie Ryan and turned into a forceout at second, Muskingum had done what the previous 11 post-season opponents had failed to — beat the Cardinals.

“We just couldn't string our hits together, that was the difference,” said SMU coach Nikki Fennern following Friday's 2-0 loss, a loss that put the Cardinals into the unfamiliar position of needing to battle through the loser's bracket in order to defend their national title. “We swung the bats well and hit the ball hard, we just couldn't string enough hits together to score any runs.”

Muskingum, on the other hand, did exactly that.

The Lady Muskies, who have now won 32 straight games, got both of their runs in the third inning, loading the bases on a lead-off single, a fielding error and a walk. Julie Ryan and Mandy Carnes followed with back-to-back singles, before the Cardinals escaped any further damage by sandwiching a pair of force-outs around a strike out.

“It could have been a lot worse, no question about that,” admitted Fennern, whose team had its seven-game winning streak snapped with the loss. “We were fortunate to come away down just 2-0 after they loaded the bases with nobody out. And with the way we were swinging the bats, I figured it was only a matter of time before we started scoring some runs.”

The Cardinals had their chances to cut into the Lady Muskies' lead in the final four innings, stranding runners at first and second in the fourth and fifth, on first in the sixth, and first and third in the seventh.

“To get 10 hits and not score a run is unbelievable,” admitted SMU senior Jennifer Meyer (Oconomowoc, Wis.), who went 2-for-4 and has now collected four hits in seven at-bats in the Cardinals' two national tournament games. “But now we have to put this game behind us and start focusing on what we've got to do to get back (to the championship game).

“We know our backs our to the wall,” continued Meyer. “We know that we can't afford another loss — we just need to get fired up.”

Which, according to Fennern, shouldn't be too hard to do.
“If you could have seen the look on the faces of our players in the dugout after the game — it was the most determined look I have ever seen before,” said the Cardinals' first-year head coach, whose team must start its climb through the loser's bracket with a win against North Central at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. “We're down, but we're far from out.”

“This is only one loss — and in a double-elimination tournament, you get two losses, so don't be counting us out yet,” warned Meyer. “We're not about to throw in the towel. We've still got a lot of ball to play, and as long as we hit the ball like we did tonight, the runs start piling up.”

And, hopefully, so will the wins.