Boxscore
ORANGE, Calif. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team dropped a heartbreaker in its season-opening Thursday evening against Rhode Island, as the Rams scored two runs in the first and one in the sixth to hold off the Cardinals 3-2.
That was the bad news for the Cardinals — and worse news for Albion.
Albion, SMU's second opponent on Day 1 of the Sun West Tournament, felt the brunt of the Cardinals' wrath, as Saint Mary's scored five times in the first inning and 10 times — yes, 10 times — in the top of the seventh en route to a 15-2 victory.
Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) led the Cardinals' 15-hit barrage against Albion, going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Mandy Tschernach (Rice Lake, Wis.), Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.), Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) and Krista Conway (Mendota Heights, Minn.) all chipped in two hits. Tschernach and Conway also drove in a team-high three runs, with Edge, Amy Langer (Savage, Minn.) and Amy Lang (Oshkosh, Wis.) each driving in two runs.
SMU jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, getting an RBI single from Edge, a bases-loaded walk from Langer, a two-run single from Lang and a single from Close.
Albion held the Cardinals in check over the next five inning, allowing just five hits — four singles and a two-out double by Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) — and trailed 5-2 heading into the final inning.
Before the Knights could record the last of SMU's three outs in the seventh, however, the Cardinals had sent 15 batters to the plate — and had all nine batters score at least once en route to the lopsided victory.
Things didn't go quite as well in the opener, as Rhode Island jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead, using four singles and a walk — all with two outs — against Schipp.
The Cardinals pulled within one, 2-1, in the third when Tschernach scored on a Rhode Island error, but the Rams regained the two-run lead with a single run in the bottom of the sixth. SMU threatened again in the seventh, as Tschernach singled, stole second and scored on a two-out Lang single. SMU's threat ended, however, when Rhode Island pitcher Jill Riley got Langer to strike out.
Regan Cahanes (Woodbury, Minn.) accounted for three of SMU's seven hits vs. Rhode Island, going 3-for-3, while Tschernach was 1-for-3 and scored both Cardinal runs.
