Game 1 Boxscore / Game 2 Boxscore

WINONA, Minn. — It was the second day of April — just one day removed from April Fool's Day — but when the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team took the field for their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against Macalester, there was no fooling around.

None.

Led by junior pitcher Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.), the Cardinals' MIAC opener was all business, as Schipp tossed her first no-hitter of the season — missing out on a perfect game when she opened the game with a leadoff walk to the Scots Katie Grudnowski — striking out 14 and allowing just one ball to reach the outfield in the Cardinals' 8-0, six-inning victory.

Taking their cue from Schipp, Kelly Rodgers (Plymouth, Minn.) and Kim Merrick (Loveland, Colo.) also turned in businesslike pitching performances in Game 2 as each gave up a hit — Rodgers' a third-inning single and Merrick's a single in the fifth – as SMU completed the sweep with a five-inning, 10-0 victory.

"This was a great way to start the (conference) season," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern, whose team moved to 10-4 overall with the back-to-back shutout wins. "We were able to get a lot of people into the game(s) and we got contributions from a lot of different people, which was good to see."

No one contributed more than Schipp in Game 1. The junior right-hander faced just 19 batters, setting down the last 18 in order. Laura Meinki flew out to center field to open the second inning, and Schipp promptly struck out the next 12 batters she faced before getting Kate Ayer to pop out to second and Grudnowski to pop out to third to end the sixth.

"Jenny pitched a tremendous game," understated Fennern. "That could very well have been the best I've seen her pitch at Saint Mary's. She was in control from start to finish, she hit her spots, and she stayed focused on the task at hand from the opening pitch to the last pitch."

It doesn't hurt when your teammates spot you a 6-0 lead after four innings, either.

SMU got single, unearned runs in the first and second innings, then put the game out of reach with four runs in the fourth — thanks in part to an RBI double by Regan Cahanes (Woodbury, Minn.) and an RBI single by Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) — then ended the game with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth, with Amy Lang's (Oshkosh, Wis.) RBI single plating Jenny Giannini (River Grove, Ill.) with the game's final run.

It was more of the same in the second game, as Rodgers held Macalester to just one hit — a third-inning single by Grudnowski — through four innings, with Merrick pitching a one-hit fifth.

SMU's offense picked up right where it left off, scoring twice in the first, three times in both the second and third, and twice more in the fourth. Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Schipp were both 3-for-3 in the nightcap, with Schipp adding a pair of RBIs, while Krista Conway (Mendota Heights, Minn.) went 2-for-3 with 3 RBIs and Close added two hits in three at-bats.

"It was great to see us continue to play at a high level in that second game," said Fennern. "We talked between games about making sure we didn't have any type of letdown in the second game — we played focused and loose, just the way we want to play every game."