Boxscore
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The last time the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team was in Northfield, the Cardinals could do no wrong, as Jenny Schipp (Oakdale, Minn.) tossed her second consecutive no-hitter and Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) was a perfect 8-for-8 with two triples as SMU closed out its MIAC regular-season schedule with a sweep of Carleton.
The Cardinals were back on the Knights' Field again Friday afternoon — only this time, the stakes were much higher — as SMU squared off against Gustavus in the opening round of the double-elimination Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
Unfortunately for SMU, nothing seemed to go right this time around, as the Cardinals stranded eight runners on base — including two in the top of the eighth inning — and Gustavus made them pay, scoring the game-tying run in the bottom of the eighth on a single by Erin Ge and a game-winning RBI double by Sarah Mahre en route to a 2-1 Gustie victory.
"It wasn't exactly the start we were hoping for, but we all felt after the game that we played a pretty solid game," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern, whose team had split with GAC during the regular season, falling 3-1 in the opener, before bouncing back for a 5-4 come-from-behind win on a bases-loaded, two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh inning. "We didn't capitalize on our opportunities, and the difference."
The Cardinals certainly capitalized on their chances in their elimination game against Saint Benedict less than an hour later, converting four CSB errors into four runs en route to a 7-0 victory.
"We had our chances (against Gustavus) and didn't take advantage — we weren't going to let that happen again (against St. Ben's)," said Fennern, whose team will now get another shot at GAC — a 6-2 loser to St. Thomas in the winner's bracket game Friday — Saturday, with the winner advancing to face the Tommies in the title game. "We've been struggling a bit offensively, and it was good to see us break out of that a bit against St. Ben's."
The Cardinals scored all the runs they would need on a pair of sacrifice flies in the third inning, then added another run in the fourth before breaking the game open with three runs in the fifth — one on a solo home run from Gutterman and the other two on a one-out, two-run homer by Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.).
"We swung the bats well (against St. Ben's) — and that's something that is going to have to continue against Gustavus (on Saturday)," said Fennern. "We know (Saturday's game) is going to come down to a hit here or there, so hopefully we'll be able to carry the momentum from this game over into that game."
Schipp and Gustavus' Joyce DeWitz turned Friday's tournament-opener into a pitchers' duel, as the pair kept the game scoreless through four and a half innings. The Gusties finally got to Schipp in the bottom of the fifth, as Dawn Lewis belted a one-out single and Mahre delivered a two-out, RBI single to up the middle.
SMU bounced back with a run of its own in the top of the sixth when Schipp led off with a walk, was sacrificed to second by Jung and beat the throw to GAC catcher Abby Bernstein on a ground out to third by Jenny Giannini (River Grove, Ill.).
Neither team scored in the seventh to set up Mahre's extra-inning heroics.
The Cardinals, who got the lead-off batter on four times, but failed to score on three of those occasions, were held to three hits by DeWitz — singles by Jess Weisbrod (Rollingstone, Minn.) in the third, and Erin Leone (Farmington, Minn.) and Cassie Otte (Rollingstone, Minn.,) in the seventh — in falling to the Gusties for the second time in three meetings this season.
