Game 1 Boxscore / Game 2 Boxscore

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — With two games against UW-Eau Claire standing between the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team and the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, Tuesday's regular-season finale had the chance of going two ways for the Cardinals.

On one hand, the Cardinals could sweep the Blugolds — a team that entered Tuesday's nonconference doubleheader with a 30-7 record and the regular-season WIAC title tucked in their back pockets — and head into the MIAC Tournament on a bit of a down note.

On the other hand, SMU could sweep the nation's 15th-ranked Blugolds — and head into Friday's postseason tournament opener against Gustavus on a high note.

Following the Cardinals' 10-2, 4-2 sweep of UW-Eau Claire, SMU coach Nikki Fennern was singing a happy tune.

"It was a great, great sweep," said Fennern, whose team used a five-run sixth inning to put away Game 1, then used a three-run seventh to ice its 4-2 Game 2 victory. "We hit the ball so well today, even when we were scoreless (through five innings) in the second game, we were still hitting the ball hard.

"We knew how important this doubleheader could be for us heading into the postseason, it's great to go in on such a high."

SMU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener, getting a two-run single by Amy Edge (Montfort, Wis.), then plated an unearned run in the third and two more unearned runs in the fifth to take a 5-0 advantage.

UW-Eau Claire got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth — snapping SMU pitcher Jenny Schipp's (North St. Paul, Minn.) scoreless inning streak at 30.0 — but the Cardinals put the game out of reach with their five-run sixth, an inning that included a two-run home run by Amy Lang (Oshkosh, Wis.) and a two-run single by Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.).

Schipp was a thorn in the Blugolds' side again in Game 2 — both offensively and defensively — as the SMU junior not only went 3-for-4 with a two-run, seventh-inning double, but also allowed just two hits and two earned runs in sixth innings for her career-best 20th win of the season.

SMU broke open a scoreless tie with an RBI single by Jung in the sixth, then added three in the seventh to take a 4-0 advantage. UW-Eau Claire scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little, too late.