WINONA, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team, there is no margin for error — if the Cardinals are to have any chance of qualifying for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament, they have to win their last four games.
Make that their last two games.
SMU took care of the first two on Wednesday, as the Cardinals swept past St. Catherine, winning the opener 3-0, then adding a 7-1 victory in the nightcap.
“We know what we have to do, and today we went out and took care of business,” said SMU coach
Jen Miller, whose team improved to 12-9 in the MIAC, but still remain two losses behind Augsburg and Bethel. “We've still go two more wins we need (Sunday at Carleton), and from there, we're going to need a little help.
“We still have a shot, but everything is going to have to fall our way.”
Augsburg and Bethel, both sitting at 11-7 with four games remaining, square off against each other on Thursday, while the Auggies still must face St. Olaf (11-5) and Bethel also closes out its regular season against St. Olaf. SMU needs to sweep Carleton, and hope Augsburg loses at least two, while Bethel must lose three of its last four for the Cardinals to land the fourth seed in the four-team conference tournament. If SMU and Augsburg end the season tied, the Cardinals hold the tiebreaker — having swept the Auggies earlier in the year — while Bethel owns the tiebreaker over SMU thanks to 6-3 and 9-2 wins over the Cardinals this season.
The Cardinals didn't make things easy on themselves in the opener vs. St. Catherine Wednesday. Twice, the Cardinals loaded the bases and failed to scoring, grounding into pitcher-to-catcher-to first double plays both times.
SMU did, however, get all the offense it would need in the third inning, as
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) drove in one run with an RBI single, while
Paige Carter's (Rosemount, Minn.) sacrifice fly drove in the other as the Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 lead.
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) delivered an run-scoring single in the fourth to push the lead to 3-0 — and that was all the run support Betzold would need, as the junior left-hander limited St. Catherine to just five hits, while striking out four in the complete-game victory.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by
Hanna Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.), but the lead was short-lived, as St. Catherine answered with its lone run of the game in the top of the second.
SMU finally broke the tie with two runs in the fifth, before breaking the game open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Jaci Prondzinski (Ettrick, Wis.) picked up the pitching victory, scattering four hits and striking out four.
Joanna Mangan (Chicago, Ill.) collected five hits in six at-bats — including a 3-for-3 effort in Game 1 and a 2-for-3 showing in Game 2 — while
Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) picked up four hits and Betzold added three.
The Cardinals (14-22 overall) close out their regular season on Sunday, traveling to Northfield, Minn., for a 1:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against Carleton.
