Box Score vs. Lakeland / Box Score vs. Amherst

Tucson Invitational GameDay Online

TUCSON, Ariz. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team entered Thursday's first game of the Tucson Invitational having plated 61 runs in its first four games of the season.

The Arizona sun, however, had an adverse affect on the Cardinals' offense, as SMU's sizzling bats went ice cold, wilting in the 90-degree temperatures in dropping a 7-1 nonconference decision to Lakeland.

SMU made the most of its opportunities in its second game of the day, scoring four runs on three hits in the fourth inning en route to a 4-0 nonconference win over Amherst.

“It was an interesting day,” said SMU coach Jen Miller, after watching her team push its overall record to 5-1. “We didn't swing the bats as well as we did last weekend (when SMU swept North Central (Minn.) 29-0 and 14-1 and Buena Vista 8-4 and 10-5). We couldn't seem to get anything going offensively (against Lakeland), but I thought we did a better of job of taking advantage of the opportunities we had (against Amherst).

“It was a decent start to the week — but there's no question we need to tighten things up a bit.”

Lakeland plated a pair of runs in the second inning, then added three more in the third and another in the fifth, before the Cardinals finally got on the board with a two-out RBI single by Jaci Prondzinski (Ettick, Wis.) in the bottom of the sixth.

Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) and Cassie Otte (Randolph, Minn.) each collected two hits to pace SMU's eight-hit attack, but the Cardinals stranded seven runners in falling for the first time this season.

Betzold worked her way out of a bases-loaded, first-inning jam against Amherst, and was in control the rest of the way, tossing her first collegiate complete game, a seven-inning six-hitter that got SMU back on the winning track.

The Cardinals would give Betzold all the run support she would need in the third, getting a two-run single by Danielle Geske (Rosemount, Minn.) and an RBI ground-out by Betzold. Geske then plated the team's fourth run of the inning on a wild pitch.

“We played much more like we are capable in the (Amherst) game,” said Miller, whose team is back in action Friday, taking on Mount Mary and Central-Iowa in a pair of seven-inning nonconference contests. “We were a little erratic defensively — we made some great defensive plays, but we also had moments where we weren't quite so sharp.

“For our first time outside, I'm pretty happy with the way we played.”