Game 1 Boxscore / Game 2 Boxscore

LA CROSSE, Wis. — After going nine straight doubleheaders without getting swept, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team had the unthinkable happen twice within a span of four days.

Just two days after getting beat 10-6 and 6-1 by league-leading St. Thomas, the Cardinals took a brief hiatus from Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic play, only to have UW-La Crosse brush off the Cardinals twice.

The Eagles got a one-out RBI double by Sally Wenzel in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat the Cardinals 2-1 in Tuesday's opener, then scored twice in the first inning and never looked back in completing the sweep with a 3-1 win.

UW-La Crosse scored in the bottom of the first on a wild pitch, but SMU bounced back, as Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) blasted her first collegiate home run — a solo shot in the third to tie the game 1-1.

The game remained tied until the seventh, when Lindsey Spraker led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and scored one-out later on Wenzel's double off SMU reliever Hanni Lohmann (Lake Elmo, Minn.).

Despite scoring 26 runs in their last four games, the Cardinals' offense struggled all day against the Eagles.

After managed just two hits in the opener — Schipp's third-inning home run and a two-out, fifth-inning single by Jen Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) — SMU collected six hits in the nightcap, but managed to plate just one run.

Trailing 2-0 after the first inning, the Cardinals cut the gap to one in the fifth, as Regan Cahanes (Woodbury, Minn.) led off with a double and, two outs later, pinch runner Jesi Johnson (Pepin, Wis.) scored on a wild pitch.

That, however, was a close as SMU would get as UW-L added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth off Jennifer Gonerka (St. Paul, Minn.), who went the distance, allowing three earned runs on seven hits.

SMU, which falls to 19-13 overall, closes out its season Wednesday, traveling to Macalester for a conference doubleheader.