ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team scored more runs in the first inning of Game 2 than they did in eight innings of the first game Tuesday afternoon.
After scoring just one run in a 3-1 eight-inning loss to Hamline in the opener of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader, the Cardinals erupted for two runs in the first inning and three more in the second — and they needed every one of them — as SMU held off a late Piper rally to collect a 6-4 Game 2 victory.
“We needed to bounce back in that second game,” said SMU coach
Jen Miller, whose team gave up a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the eighth to lose the first game. “That first game was a real heartbreaker, and for us to come back and swing the bats the way we are capable, that was huge.”
Game 1 proved to be a real pitchers' duel, as SMU's
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) and Hamline's Jessalyn Weaver each allowed one run, while scattering nine hits through seven innings.
In the eighth, SMU tacked on one more hit, but
Morgan Stock (Amboy, Minn.) was stranded on first after her two-out single. Hamline, meanwhile, collected two hits in its half of the eighth, getting a one-out double by Erin Farley, followed by a game-ending, two-run home run to left-center off the bat of Heidi Larsen.
Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.),
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.), Stock and Betzold all had two hits for the Cardinals, who scored their lone run on an RBI single by Betzold in the fifth.
SMU kicked its offense into high gear early in Game 2, getting an RBI single from Betzold and a run-scoring double from
Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) to take a 2-0 first-inning advantage, then added three more runs in the second — highlighted by an RBI single from
Julianne Bartosz (Mokena, Ill.) and Betzold's third and fourth RBIs of the afternoon — to push its lead to 5-0.
Hamline cut into the lead with a single run in the bottom of the second, but SMU's
Angie Diercks (Red Wing, Minn.) belted her first collegiate home run in the fifth to push the Cardinals' lead back to five, 6-1.
The Pipers made things interesting, scoring twice in the fifth and once more in the sixth to get within two, 6-4, but Betzold set the side down in order — including a pair of strikeouts — to seal the SMU win.
Betzold and
Hanna Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.) each went 3-for-4 to pace the Cardinals' 13-hit Game 2 attack, while Diercks added two hits in three at-bats.
The Cardinals, who moved to 7-5 in the MIAC and 10-18 overall, are right back in action on Thursday, when they play host to Gustavus in a key conference doubleheader at the SMU Field.
