Boxscore
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — If there's one thing the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team is not used to, it's losing.
In fact, not one player on the Cardinals team has ever gone through a streak in which they have lost more than three straight games.
Yet, after Sunday's 1-0, eight-inning loss to host Coe in the final day of the Coe Tournament, that's exactly where they found themselves — in the midst of a four-game losing streak.
And that did not sit well with the Cardinals.
SMU promptly put an end to the team's longest losing streak since early in the 2001 season, scoring twice in both the fourth and fifth innings en route to a 4-1 win over Monmouth.
"That was a win we really needed," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern of the triumph over Monmouth. "If you think about it, we're 4-8, but five of those eight losses have been by one run — including three in extra innings — so we really not that far off.
"We played much better (Sunday) than we did against Simpson and Central (on Saturday)," continued Fennern, referring to SMU's 6-5 loss to Simpson and 5-1 loss to Central. "I thought we played very well against Coe, the breaks just didn't go our way. Then we seemed to put it all together (against Monmouth), which was nice to see. It was great to see us really break out."
SMU pitcher Jenny Schipp (Oakdale, Minn.) held Coe scoreless for seven innings, but the Cardinals could not give their senior hurler any offensive support, as the game went into extra innings deadlocked at 0-0. The Kohawks plated the game's only run in the top of the eighth on a pair of passed balls, and SMU went down in order in the bottom of the inning to seal their fate.
"Jenny pitched such a great game, it's too bad we couldn't give her any run support," said Fennern, whose senior tossed a four-hitter, while striking out a season-high 13 in the losing effort, while offensively, Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) accounted for two of SMU's three hits. "In fact, our pitching staff did a great job all weekend."
Megan Wallisch (Loveland, Colo.) did her best Schipp impression in SMU's second game vs. Monmouth, tossing a complete-game four-hitter to lead the Cardinals to their streak-snapping 4-1 win. Schipp may not have been on the mound, but she certainly made her presence felt, going 2-for-3 with a double and two stolen bases to pace the Cardinals' seven-hit attack.
"We're starting to put it all together," said Fennern, noting that, along with the solid pitching and above-average offensive production, the Cardinals were flawless defensively on Sunday, putting together 15 errorless innings,. "We're getting better every day, and that's great to see."
