Game 1 Box Score / Game 2 Box Score

WINONA, Minn. — It was supposed to be a victory tour that carried the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team to its second straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title.

Five doubleheaders, including four straight from Thursday through Sunday, and the Cardinals did the match — 10 wins, and the conference title was theirs.

Unfortunately, St. Catherine rained on their parade almost before it even got going.

The Wildcats, scoring twice in the sixth inning, rallied to beat the Cardinals 4-3 in the second game to earn a split of Thursday's doubleheader — and put SMU's hopes of retaining their MIAC crown in serious jeopardy.

The Cardinals, who beat St. Catherine 1-0 on a two-hit complete-game shutout by pitcher Stacy O'Malley (Lake Elmo, Minn.) in the opener, now need to win their last eight conference games — and hope that league-leading St. Thomas drops at least one other game along the way.

SMU managed just 11 hits in the two games — including just five in Game 1. Lindsay Mamer (Mankato, Minn.) collected two of those five hits, driving in Jennifer Miller (Winona, Minn.) with the game's only run in the bottom of the third. O'Malley did the rest, striking out 11 and walking just one en route to her 10th win of the season.

Things weren't quite as easy for O'Malley and Co. in the nightcap, however.

The two teams traded runs in the third inning — with SMU's coming as when Amy Langer (Savage, Minn.) stole home on the back-end of a double steal.

St. Catherine regained the lead with a run in the top of the fifth, but SMU responded with two in the bottom of the inning. The Cardinals loaded the bases with nobody out — thanks to a pair of walks and an infield single by Langer. Miller followed with an RBI single to right and Mamer lifted a sacrifice fly to left to score the Cardinals' other run. Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) followed with what appeared to be a second straight sacrifice fly, but Ann Munzenmaier (Urbandale, Iowa) was gunned down at the play trying to score from third.

The Wildcats then took the lead for good in the sixth, scoring a pair of unearned runs.