Wesleyan (Conn.) Box Score /
Avila Box Score /
GameDay Online
ORANGE, Calif. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team was in dire need of an on-the-field victory when they squared off against Wesleyan (Conn.) Thursday afternoon.
The Cardinals had gotten their off-the-field victory on Wednesday, when, during the team's off-day, one of their players was selected to “come on down” and mastered the Money Game in winning a Jeep on the Price Is Right.
As thrilling as that was, however, the Jeep wasn't going to help the Cardinals drive away with a conference championship or a berth in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.
Victories on the field were going to do that.
And through their first 10 games of the season — including their first six at the Sun West Tournament this week — wins were few and far between.
And Wesleyan (Conn.) and Avila (Mo.) made them even fewer and farther between, as Wesleyan outscored the Cardinals 11-7 Thursday, while Avila held SMU to just one run in a 3-1 victory.
“It's becoming the same old story game after game,” said SMU coach
Jen Miller, whose team saw its losing streak climb to a season-high six straight with Thursday's two losses. “When our offense is clicking, we aren't getting the defense of the pitching to support it. And when we do finally get some solid pitching, we score only one run.
“I just don't have many answers.”
Including the most pressing question — one that had nothing to do with Thursday's losses: But Miller while eager to talk about her team's victory over Wesleyan, she couldn't answer t Who won the Jeep?
“We can't say,” said Miller with a laugh. “According to the waiver we had to sign (from the Price is Right), we can reveal the winner until after the show airs.”
So that answer will have to wait.
So will the Cardinals' first win since a 17-9 Game 2 win over Buena Vista on March 8.
SMU got on the board first against Wesleyan, getting an RBI single from
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) in the bottom of the third inning. Wesleyan, however, responded with six runs in the top of the fourth, and the Cardinals never recovered, seeing that deficit climb to 11-2 before scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh, highlighted by
Danielle Geske's
(Rosemount, Minn.) first home run of the season.
Avila did all of its damage in the second inning, scoring three runs on five hits off Cardinal pitcher
Sara Fitzgerald (Colo, Iowa). SMU plated its lone run in the bottom of the fifth, as
Jenny Giannini (River Grove, Ill.) drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk.
“We've got to find a way to put it all together at one time,” said Miller, whose team closes out its eight-game stay at the Sun West Tournament on Friday, taking on Tufts — a team that beat SMU 8-7 earlier this week — and Plattsburgh State. “We're playing OK in bits and pieces, we're just not playing well all at once.”
