Game 1 Box Score /
Game 2 Box Score /
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WINONA, Minn. — If there was one thing Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball coach
Jen Miller was determined to do, it was to make sure her Cardinals forgot about the heartbreaking Game 2 loss to Bethel on Wednesday and focused solely on the task at hand — two Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games against Concordia.
One swing by the Cobbers' Emily Jensen, however, sent Miller and Co. back in time — and forced them to live that Game 2 nightmare all over again.
Miller — whose Cardinals gave up four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, including a walk-off, two-run, two-out home run by Lynnea Thompson, in falling to Bethel in the second game of their conference doubleheader Wednesday ¬ — could only sit back and watch helplessly as virtually the same scenario unfolded before her eyes Saturday at the SMU Field.
With the score knotted at 2-2 in the top of the ninth inning, Jensen laced a
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) offering over the fence in right field, and, three batters later, Kesley Jones delivered a three-run shot off the scoreboard in center, lifting the Cobbers to a 7-2 Game 1 victory.
The Cobbers put up another seven runs in the nightcap, but — thanks to a five-run SMU sixth — seven runs wasn't enough, as the Cardinals salvaged a split with a 9-7 come-from-behind victory.
“It was a strange day, that's about the only way to describe it,” said Miller. “After Wednesday's games, we wanted to make sure everyone put the losses behind them, and then (Concordia) goes and does the exact same thing in the top of the ninth.
“But I give our team a lot of credit, they never quit,” Miller added. “Even when we got down 7-4 (heading into the bottom of the sixth) everyone just kept battling — it was great to see them string some hits together and get that (Game 2) win.”
The Cobbers raced out to a 1-0 lead in their first at-bat of the opener, as Jensen launched the first of her two Game 1 home runs, but SMU knotted the game at 1-1 on an RBI single by Betzold in the third.
The Cardinals got a solo home run of their own off the bat of
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) in the fifth, and appeared to have things under control, until Concordia Amanda Michaelson delivered a one-out RBI single in the top of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.
And send the Cardinals back in time.
“Watching (Thompson) hit that (walk-off) home run on Wednesday was tough,” said Miller. “And when (Jensen) hit that one today, it was like having to relive that all over again.”
The ninth-inning nightmare didn't seem to have any ill effects early in the nightcap, as SMU raced out to a 3-0, second-inning advantage — an advantage that lasted all of three outs, as the Cobbers responded with four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-3 lead.
The Cobbers padded that lead to 6-3 with two runs in the fifth, while SMU responded with a single run in the bottom of the fifth on a Kelly Simons (Richfield, Minn.) RBI double. Concordia made it 7-4 when Amanda Michaelson ad Maddie Haroldson clubbed back-to-back doubles in the top of the sixth.
That, however, was when SMU's bats finally came to life, as the Cardinals sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five runs — including two-run singles by
Jess Sharpe (Ottawa, Ill.) and Simons — to take the lead for good.
“That win in the second game was huge,” said Miller, whose team begins a busy six-game week on Tuesday, playing host to Hamline in a 4 p.m. contest. “We haven't been getting the clutch hits the last couple of games, it was nice to see us come up with a few in that second game.
“Hopefully we can build up some momentum now.”
