ST. PAUL, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team, there was nothing easy about Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Macalester.
In fact, the Cardinals needed some late-game heroics in both games to earn the conference sweep.
SMU scored two runs in the top of the sixth and top of the seventh en route to a 7-4 victory in the opener, then erupted for five runs in the top of the eighth in outlasting the Scots 11-6 in Game 2.
Joanna Mangan (Chicago, Ill.) and
Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) highlighted SMU's 14-hit Game 1 attack, as Mangan recorded her first collegiate four-hit game in going 4-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, while Stenseth was 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs from the lead-off spot.
Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) added two hits in four at-bats, while
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) drove in three runs.
After scoring once in the first at-bat, the Cardinals pushed their lead to 3-0 with two runs in the fourth, but Macalester responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth to pull within one, 3-2. The two teams traded two-run innings in the sixth, before the Cardinals iced the win with two runs in the top of the seventh on RBI singles by Mangan and Stenseth.
The Cardinals appeared to be one their way to an easy victory in Game 2, erupting for four runs in the first, before adding single runs in the third and fifth to take a 6-0 advantage. Macalester, however, scored five times in the bottom of the fifth and once in the sixth to send the game into extra innings.
In the eighth, the Cardinals collected five hits — including an RBI groundout by
Julianne Bartosz (Mokena, Ill.) and a two-run single by Stenseth — and took advantage of two Macalester errors in plating five runs to complete the sweep.
Stenseth followed up her 3-for-5, 2 RBI Game 1 effort, by collecting two hits in five at-bats, while also driving in two more runs.
Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) went 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while
Hanna Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.) and Simons each chipped in two hits.
The Cardinals, who improve to 3-1 in the MIAC and 6-10 overall, are back in action on Sunday, playing host to UW-La Crosse in a 1 p.m. nonconference doubleheader at SMU Field.
