ST. PAUL, Minn. — If the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team was feeling any ill effects from their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opening losses to top-ranked St. Thomas last Thursday, they certainly didn't show it on Monday.
In fact, the Cardinals looked quite healthy indeed.
Just ask St. Catherine.
SMU picked up its first two conference wins of the season — at the Wildcats' expense — as SMU broke a 5-5 tie with a game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat CSC 6-5 in the opener, then exploded for nine runs en route to a sweep-clinching 9-3 Game 2 win.
"It's nice to get back on the winning track," said SMU coach
Jen Miller, whose team opened its conference schedule with 6-0 and 8-2 losses to St. Thomas. "We got off to a bit of a slow start, but once we got a handle on their pitchers, our bats really came alive."
The Cardinals allowed St. Catherine to score first, but responded to CSC's single run in the top of the fourth with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take a 5-1 lead.
Danielle Geske (Rosemount, Minn.) and
Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) did all the damage for SMU, as Geske belted a three-run home run and Mondo followed with a two-run shot.
The lead, however, was anything but safe, as the Wildcats rallied with four runs of their own in the top of the sixth — setting up Mondo's two-out, seventh-inning heroics. The SMU senior belted a line shot that St. Catherine third baseman Kayla Webster couldn't handle, allowing Geske to score the game-winning run.
There was not need for late-game heroics in Game 2, as SMU scored two runs in the first and third innings, then added four more in the fourth in cruising to the lopsided win.
"I thought we played pretty well — it was a good all-around performance," said Miller. "It was good to see us break out a bit offensively in that second game. Hopefully, we can keep that going."
