Game 1 Boxscore / Game 2 Boxscore

MOORHEAD, Minn. —  Thursday afternoon, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team needed some late-inning heroics in the form of two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat Gustavus 5-4 and earn a split in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.

It has become the Cardinals' trademark to success all season — clutch hits in key situations.

Saturday afternoon in their MIAC doubleheader against Concordia, the Cardinal didn't have to conjure up any late-inning magic. In fact, for the most part, SMU gave its offense the day off.

You can do that when your pitchers allow just five hits and combined to strike out 29 batters.

Jenny Schipp (Oakdale, Minn.) got things started for the Cardinals, fanning a season-high 15 in tossing a complete-game two-hitter as SMU parlayed singles runs in the fifth and sixth innings into a 2-0 Game 1 victory.

Erin Leone (Farmington, Minn.) did her best Schipp imitation in the nightcap, as the freshman hurler tossed a complete-game three-hitter, striking out a season-best 14 as the Cardinals completed the sweep with a second straight 2-0 victory.

"Our pitchers pitched very well," understated SMU coach Nikki Fennern, whose team has now won three straight, nine of their last 10 and 17 of their last 20. "Offensively, we didn't hit the ball as well as I would have liked, but when your pitchers are striking out 15 and 14 batters, you don't need a lot of offense."

The Cardinals managed just five hits in the opener, but made the most of them, getting RBI singles from Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Danielle Geske (Rosemount, Minn.) en route to their sixth win decided by two runs or less.

With Leone doing a near-perfect Schipp impersonation, the SMU senior made her presence felt with the bat, as Schipp went 3-for-4 with a first-inning double and a seventh-inning RBI. Leone helped her own cause in the sixth, breaking the scoreless tie with an RBI single.

"It seems like every day, we find a different way to come up with a win," said Fennern, whose team remained just a game back of Gustavus for second place in the MIAC standings. "We're getting down to crunch time, and it's important for us to stay focused and keep winning.

"It doesn't really matter to us how we win — whether it's in the bottom of the seventh inning like the Gustavus game, or with outstanding pitching efforts like we got today — as long as we win.

"There are no easy games, we'll take the wins any way we can get them."