WINONA, Minn. — A day after banging out 19 hits and scoring a season-high 15 runs, the Saint Mary's University's bats decided to return to hibernation Saturday evening, as the Cardinals managed just six hits — in their two games combined — in falling to Cal State University-San Marcos (5-0) and Chapman (4-2).
“It's disappointing to lose, but I thought we played two pretty solid games,” said SMU coach
Jen Miller, whose team fell to 3-3 after its first three days at the Sun West Tournament. “Defensively, we played very well, and I thought we had some at-bats where we hit the ball hard, it was just at somebody.
“It's early in the season and we need to be a little more consistent offensively — you can't score have 19 hits and score 15 runs one day, and then turn around and score two runs on six hits in two games combined the next.”
CSU-SM pitcher Breanna Sandberg kept the Cardinals off balance throughout SMU's first game of the day, as the Cougar junior struck out 10 and did not walk a batter.
The Cougars, ranked No. 20 in the latest NAIA national poll, got on the board early, scoring a pair of runs off SMU starter
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) in the first inning.
From there, the contest turned into a pitcher's duel between Sandberg and Betzold — until the top of the seventh, when the Cougars got to Betzold for three runs and their eight hits to seal the 5-0 victory.
Betzold scattered eight hits and walked four, including a pair of intentional walks to CSU-SM's Alyssa Dronenburg, who laced a two-run home run in the Cougar first.
Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.),
Hanna Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.) and
Julianne Bartosz (Mokena, Ill.) accouted for SMU's three hits.
It was more of the same for the Cardinals in Game 2 against Chapman, as the Panthers' Sara Solis equaled Sanberg's earlier effort, fanning 10 SMU batters.
Chapman gave Solis plenty of run support, scoring once in the first and three more times in the second to take a 4-0 advantage. The Cardinals cut that lead in half in the top of the third, as
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) belted a two-run home run — SMU's third home run of the season.
That, however, was as close as the Cardinals would get, as Solis would allow just two more base runners, while striking out the side in both the fourth and seventh innings.
Aside from Gannon's round-tripper, only Stenseth and
Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) were able to get a hit off Solis, who walked four in tossing the complete game. Betzold pitched the first 1 2/3 innings, allowing all four Chapman runs, while
Jaci Prondzinski (Ettrick, Wis.) threw 5 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, allowing just four hits.
“You aren't going to win too many games striking out 10 times — and we did that twice,” said Miller, whose team closes out its Sun West Tournament appearance on Monday, taking on Tufts (10 a.m. CDT) and Linfield (noon, CDT). “Defensively we played very well (committing just one error in 13 innings) and our pitching was good. We've just got to get the bats going a bit.”
