NORTHFIELD, Minn. — It wasn't their prettiest effort, but for Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball coach
Jen Miller, it was exactly what the Cardinals needed — two wins to end the conference season.
"We didn't necessarily play as well as I would have liked, but we got the job done," said Miller, whose team needed four runs in the top of the seventh inning to put away St. Olaf 6-2 in the first game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader, then used a four-run second and a three-run fourth to cruise to an 8-5 Game 2 win. "Our goal right now is to gain a little momentum heading into the MIAC Tournament (Friday), and that's pretty much what we did today.
"I thought we hit the ball pretty well," continued Miller, noting that the Cardinals banged out 29 hits against three St. Olaf pitchers in closing their conference season with a 17-5 record. "We still let (St. Olaf) hang around a little more than I would have liked in the first game, but we came up with the key hits when we needed them."
Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) and
Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) swung the hot bats for SMU in the opener, as Mondo went 4-for-4 with four RBIs — including sixth-inning home run and a bases-clearing, three-run double in the seventh — while Close was 3-for-4, with an RBI double in the first.
The Oles shut down Mondo and Close in Game 2, limiting the senior duo to just two runs — one each — in a combined nine at-bats.
Problem was, Mondo and Close were about the only two Cardinals the Oles pitchers could keep off the base paths, as SMU collected 17 Game 2 hits — including two each from
Cassie Otte (Randolph, Minn.),
Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.), Hannah Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.),
Jenna Johnson (Menomonie, Wis.),
Danielle Geske (Rosemount, Minn.) and
Megan Pulvermacher (Richland Center, Wis.).
"To get hitting from that many different people was something we haven't been able to do lately," said Miller, whose team closes out its regular-season Wednesday at UW-River Falls, before traveling to St. Paul, Minn., to take on Gustavus in the opening round of the MIAC Tournament Friday at 3 p.m. "Hopefully we can keep swinging the bats like that (Wednesday) and into the conference tournament."
