Boxscore
ST. PAUL, Minn. — A year ago, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team opened the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament against Gustavus — and the Gusties came away with a 2-1, eight-inning victory.
It was the first of two Gustavus victories over the Cardinals in last year's double-elimination conference tournament.
Friday afternoon, the Cardinals once again opened MIAC post-season play against the Gusties.
And while it was a new year, it was — unfortunately for the Cardinals — the same old result, as the Gusties put at least one runner on base in every inning, erupted for three runs in the second and four more in the fourth, and handed SMU a 10-7 setback.
Staying true to 2006 form, however, the Cardinals once again rebounded from their tournament-opening loss to the Gusties, this time riding three, two-run innings to a 7-1 victory against Hamline — and a rematch with Gustavus.
"We played much better in the second game that we did in the first," said SMU coach Jen Miller. "Our performance against Gustavus was a little disappointing — especially defensively — but I was glad to see us bounce back and put together a much better performance (against Hamline)."
The Cardinals got out of the gates swinging against GAC, scoring a pair of first-inning runs on an RBI single by Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) and a GAC error, but the Gusties responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the first.
SMU went down 1-2-3 in the second — the only time the entire game that either team was set down in order — and the Gusties capitalized on two SMU second-inning errors to grab what appeared to be a commanding 5-2 advantage.
Friday, however — with a steady rain falling — no lead was safe.
The Cardinals took advantage of three Joyce DeWitz walks — and got an RBI single from Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) and a two-run, two-out single off the bat of Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) — to knot the game at 4-4 in the top of the fourth.
The game did stay tied long, as GAC equalled SMU's fourth-inning output, getting a two-run home run from Julie Mahre and a two-run groundout to right by Tina Strauss to push its lead back to four, 9-5.
"I thought we did a good job of battling back (in the first game)," said Miller, whose team cut the gap to 9-6 with a single run in the fifth, and had runners on first and second with two out, trailing 10-7 in the seventh, but Mondo grounded into a fielder's choice, forcing out Cassie Otte (Randolph, Minn. .) at second to end the game. "I can't complain about how we played offensively — we out-hit them (10-9), but we also committed five errors, and you aren't going to win too many games playing defense like that."
For the second straight the Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead after their first at-bat, as Hannah Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.) delivered a two-out, two-run single.
And this time, the Cardinals weren't able to relinquish that lead.
SMU added two runs in the second and two more in the fifth — both times getting RBI singles from Otte and Danielle Geske (Randolph, Minn.) —and completed the rout with a solo run in the sixth.
"We needed to have a bounce-back game like that," said Miller, whose team will be looking to snap a five-game losing streak against the Gusties when they take the field Saturday morning at 11 a.m. "Hopefully we can carry that momentum over. We're getting the pitching and the hitting — we need to add flawless fielding (Saturday) if we hope to beat (Gustavus)."
