Game 1 Box Score /
Game 2 Box Score /
GameDay Online
WINONA, Minn. — It's amazing what a pair of big sixth innings, 18 runs and two wins will do to the short-term memory.
Eight-game losing streak? Forgotten.
One win in their first 12 games? Can't remember.
For Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball coach
Jen Miller and the rest of the Cardinals, Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against St. Olaf was the perfect tonic for what ailed them.
Including those quickly forgotten early season struggles.
The Cardinals banged out 16 hits and scored six sixth-inning runs in rolling to a 9-1, six-inning victory over the Oles at Cotter Field, then followed that up with a three-run sixth — and a second-straight nine-run performance — en route to a sweep-clinching 9-4 victory.
"This was exactly what we needed — a real breakout performance," said SMU coach
Jen Miller, whose team was coming off a disappointing 0-8 showing at the Sun West Tournament in Orange, Calif. "We didn't play all that well in California, but when we stepped on the field today, that was all in the past — this was the start of a new season, and the conference portion of our schedule is the most important part."
And Wednesday's performance certainly got SMU off to a good start in that respect.
St. Olaf got on the board first, scoring a single run in the top of the first, but the Cardinals bounced back, taking the lead for good with three runs in the third — highlighted by a two-run single off the bat of
Jenna Johnson (Menomonie, Wis.).
The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the sixth, when the Cardinals battered a pair of St. Olaf pitchers for six runs on seven hits, highlighted by
Danielle Geske's
(Rosemount, Minn.) two-run double to ice the victory.
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) paced the Cardinals' 16-hit attack, going 4-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, while
Cassie Otte (Randolph, Minn.) was 3-for-4 with two doubles, and Geske,
Jenny Giannini (River Grove, Ill.) and
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) each chipped in two hits.
Game 2 began much the same way the opener did, as St. Olaf once again scored a single run in the top of the first inning — then added two more runs in the top of the third to push its lead to 3-0.
The Cardinals responded with five runs in the bottom of the third — including a two-run home run from Johnson — added a single run in the fifth, then sealed the win with three more runs in the sixth.
"Offensively, we hit the ball as well as we have all year," said Miller, who got three-hit efforts from Otte and Gannon to pace the Cardinals' 14-hit Game 2 effort. "It's nice to get the conference season off on the right foot — hopefully, we can now put (the first 12 games) behind us and use these two games as a springboard to the rest of the season."
