Game 1 Boxscore / Game 2 Boxscore

WINONA, Minn. — The paths were vastly different, but — fortunately for the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team — the final destination was the same.

The Cardinals scored four runs in the first three innings en route to a 5-0 victory over UW-River Falls in the first game of their nonconference doubleheader Thursday afternoon at the SMU Field, then rallied to score four runs in the bottom of the sixth — and one in the bottom of the ninth — to rally for a 5-4 victory in the second game.

"It was great to see us bounce back the way we did," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern, whose team was coming off a disappointing 7-0, 8-2 loss to defending national champion St. Thomas on Wednesday. "We came out with a bit of a chip on our shoulder today — we were looking to take out some of our frustrations, and I think we did that."

Much to the dismay of the Falcons.

The Cardinals scored early, and often, in the opener, getting a first-inning RBI single from Amy Edge (Montfort, Wis.), a two-run, scoring-inning home run from Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) — the first of her career — in the second, and an RBI single from Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) in the third.

Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) held the Falcons at bay through the first four innings, allowing just two hits, while striking out six, before giving way to Megan Wallisch (Loveland, Colo.) who gave up just one hit over the game's final three innings.

The second game may have had the same end result, but it certainly didn't start out that way.

UW-River Falls jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead and held that advantage until the bottom of the sixth, when SMU scored four times to take a 4-3 lead. The Falcons responded with a run-scoring double down the left-field line by Emily Evans to send the game into extra innings.

After a scoreless eighth, and with the Cardinals down to their final out, pinch hitter Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) delivered a game-winning double to deep left-center, scoring Mondo from first.

"Our performance — all the way around — was like night and day between the two games," said Fennern. "We were aggressive at the plate in the first game and really hit the ball well. We fell behind in the second game and all of the sudden we were very tentative at the plate.

"Fortunately we were able to shake that off (in the sixth), and Jess came up big in the ninth," continued Fennern. "I was very pleased with the way we hung in there in that second game. To come back from three runs down like that late in the game was great to see."