Boxscore

ORANGE, Calif. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team banged out 15 hits and scored nine runs in its final two games at the Sun West tournament Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, eight of those runs and 15 of those hits came in Game 2's 8-0,m five-inning victory against Trinity. In the opener, the Cardinals managed just two hits and one eighth-inning run in falling to Babson 4-1 in eight innings.

SMU pitcher Hanni Lohmann (Lake Elmo, Minn.) did her part again Babson, holding the Bobcats scoreless on four hits through seven innings.

Then came the eighth.

Babson scored four times in the top of the eighth — including three on a bases-loaded, two-out double by Kara Courtney. SMU threatened in the bottom of the eighth, getting a lead-off, RBI single from Amy Lang (Oshkosh, Wis.). That, however, was all the offense the Cardinals would generate as Babson pitcher Colleen Kelly got Krista Conway (Mendota Heights, Minn.) to pop out to second and Amy Barbiaux (New Franken, Wis.) to fly out to right to end the threat — and the game.

The Cardinals' bats may have been quiet against Babson, but they certainly weren't against Trinity, as SMU erupted for five runs in the first two innings en route to the 8-0 victory.

Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) led the Cardinals' 13-hit attack, going 3-for-3, while Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.), Mandy Tschernach (Rice Lake, Wis.) and Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.) each chipped in a pair of hits.

Gutterman led off the game with a triple and scored on Tschernach's RBI double. Lang and Close added RBI singles as SMU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning. SMU's offense continued to feast on Trinity pitching in the second, getting a sacrifice fly from Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) and an RBI single from Edge to push the Cardinals' lead to 5-0 after two.

Edge added an RBI double in the fourth and SMU completed the rout with two runs in the fifth in closing out their eight-game tournament stay with a 5-3 record.