Game 1 Boxscore / Game 2 Boxscore
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team entered Thursday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader trailing Gustavus by one game in the race for second place in the conference standings.
The Cardinals exited Thursday's twinbill trailing the Gusties by one game — but keeping pace with Gustavus wasn't easy.
After dropping the first game 3-1, the Cardinals found themselves trailing 4-3 heading into their final at-bat — and a GAC sweep was a very real possibility.
Fortunately for coach Nikki Fennern, late-game heroics have become the Cardinals' specialty, as SMU rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning — the game-winner coming on a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Erin Leone (Farmington, Minn.) on a 3-2 pitch — en route to a 5-4 Game 2 win and a split in the conference series.
"We certainly have done a good job of finding ways to win," said Fennern, whose team had its six-game winning streak snapped with the Game 1 loss — but bounced back to win for the 14th time in its last 17 games, while snapping the Gusties' season-high 12-game winning streak in the process. "We knew how important these games were — for the conference standings, for the conference tournament, and for the regional rankings.
"We couldn't afford to lose two, and, fortunately for us, we were able to come away with a win in that second game."
Thanks to some late-game magic — and the keen eye of Leone.
Danielle Geske (Rosemount, Minn.) opened the Cardinals' half of the seventh with her second double of the game and Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) followed with an RBI double of her own to tie the score 4-4. Jenny Schipp (Oakdale, Minn.) laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Gutterman to third with one out.
GAC coach Jeff Annis then elected to intentionally walk Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Jenny Giannini (River Grove, Ill.) to load the bases. And the plan nearly worked to perfection as GAC pitcher Joyce DeWitz — who limited SMU to four hits in posting a complete-game win in the opener — struck out Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) for the second out. DeWitz then fell behind 3-0 to Leone, before throwing back-to-back strikes to work the count full. The payoff pitch, however, was low and outside, allowing Gutterman to walk home from third with the game-winning run.
"We've had different people step up big for us all season," said Fennern. "(Geske) came up huge in the top of the seventh with that double, and Erin had a great at-bat in the end — not to mention the fact that she did an outstanding job on the mound (throwing 3.1 innings of shutout relief).
"I'm not too sure I can take many more of these types of wins, but I'm certainly not going to complain, either — a win is a win, and we need all the wins we can get."
