Game 1 Box Score /
Game 2 Box Score /
GameDay Online
ST. PAUL, Minn. — With six teams still battling for the four possible spots in the MIAC Tournament with six conference games remaining, it's the end result that matters — you don't get any style points for flashy performances.
And for the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team, there wasn't anything flashy about the Cardinals' performances against Macalester Wednesday, which was good — and bad.
The Cardinals rallied from a 4-3 deficit with two runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat the Scots 5-4 in the opener of their conference doubleheader.
That was the good.
Macalester turned the tables in the nightcap, scoring three runs in the botttom of the sixth and two more in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Cardinals 10-9 to earn the split. A split that puts the Cardinals' hopes of a fourth MIAC Tournament appearance in serious jeopardy.
That was the bad.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it gets even worse.
With the split, the Cardinals drop to 13-5 in conference play, putting them in third place — narrowly in front of Hamline (10-4) and Augsburg (10-6) — and behind league-leading St. Thomas (18-0) and second-place Gustavus (14-4).
What's so bad about that? Nothing — except that SMU's last four conference games are against St. Thomas (Saturday) and Gustavus (Sunday).
"We certainly put ourselves behind the eight ball," said Miller, whose team committed three errors and surrendered a season-high 16 hits in dropping the second game. "We controlled our own destiny when it came to the MIAC Tournament, and now we've made things that much tougher on ourselves.
"We've got four (conference) games left — against the best two teams in the conference — and we've certainly got our work cut out for us."
The Cardinals raced out to a 3-0 lead after their first two at-bats, getting a solo home run from
Jenny Giannini (River Grove, Ill.) in the first inning and RBI singles from
Cassie Otte (Randolph, Minn.) and
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) in the second. The Scots, however, responded with two runs in the bottom of the second, then took a 4-3 lead with their second two-run inning in the fifth.
In the deciding seventh, Otte led off with a triple, Gannon walked and moved to second on a fly out by Giannini.
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) was intentionally walked to load the bases, before Otte scored on a fielder's choice and Gannon followed, thanks to an error by Macalester second baseman Alison Phillips.
Otte, who had her 27-game hitting streak snapped with an 0-for-4 showing in Game 1 vs. Carleton Tuesday, collected two hits in four at-bats in the first game.
Hanna Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.) and
Amy Zimniewicz (River Falls, Wis.) also had two hits, as the trio accounted for six of SMU's 10 Game 1 hits.
Game 2 started in much the same fashion as Game 1, as SMU scored twice in the first, four times in the third and once in the fourth to take a commanding 7-2 advantage.
So much for commanding, as Macalester scored three times in both the fifth and sixth innings to pull even, 8-8 heading into the seventh inning.
In the decisve seventh (again), SMU scored on an RBI double by Giannini to take a 9-8 lead, only to have Macalester answer in the bottom of the seventh, parlaying two Cardinal errors into two unearned runs — and the Game 2 win.
"I don't know what to say — our pitching and defense were not where they need to be, no question about that," said Miller, who got a 4-for-5, two-double, 3-RBI effort from
Danielle Geske (Rosemount, Minn.) and a 3-for-4 showing from Otte in the nightcap. "Give (Macalester) credit, they never gave up and kept coming at us, but we certainly didn't do ourselves any favors.
"We've got a lot of work to do now."
