ST. PETER, Minn. — Gustavus entered Thursday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team in the midst of a 16-game winning streak — not to mention a perfect run through their first 10 games of the conference season.
Maybe even more impressive, was the fact that the Gusties had allowed just 19 runs — including eight shutout victories — and scored 120 runs during their 16-game win streak.
SMU held the Gusties' offense well under its 7.5 runs-per-game scoring average — limiting GAC to just five runs combined in Thursday's twinbill.
Problem was, Gustavus pitcher Joyce DeWitz was even more stingy, blanking the Cardinals 2-0 in the opening game, then tossing a second straight complete game, this one a five-hitter with four strikeouts, as the Gusties completed the sweep with a 3-2 victory.
"It was a tough day in the field," said SMU coach
Jen Miller, whose team committed four errors — directly resulting in four of Gustavus' five runs. "Gustavus is a very good team, and you can't afford to be giving them extra outs — which is exactly what we did."
The opener was a classic pitcher's duel, as SMU's
Megan Wallisch (Loveland, Colo.) matched DeWitz pitch-for-pitch, holding the Gusties to just five hits, while DeWitz allowed just four SMU singles — by four different players.
The difference? A pair of third-inning Cardinal errors.
"We shot ourselves in the foot in both games," said Miller, whose team has been haunted by costly errors this season. "We knew both games were going to tight, and we knew we couldn't afford to make any mistakes. We made two in the third inning (of Game 1) and two more in the fourth inning (of Game 2) and Gustavus made us pay."
DeWitz and Wallisch were at it again in the second game, as Wallisch tossed her second straight complete game, holding the potent GAC lineup to six hits, while DeWitz allowed just five hits — two to lead-off hitter
Cassie Otte (Randolph, Minn.) — while striking out four.
SMU finally got to DeWitz in the third, getting an RBI single from Otte and a bases loaded, two-out walk by
Jenna Johnson (Rosemount, Minn.). The Gusties answered back with one run in the bottom of the third on a solo home run by Julie Mahre, before taking the lead for good with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth — again taking advantage of two SMU errors to plate their two runs.
"We have to do a better job in the field," said Miller, whose Cardinals — losers of four straight vs. the Gusties — dropped into a third-place tie with Concordia in the chase for one of the four MIAC tournament berths. "We got great pitching from Megan, and we put ourselves in position to win that second game, but we couldn't make the plays in the field, and that's disappointing."
