NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team, coming off back-to-back Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference wins over St. Catherine Wednesday afternoon at the SMU Field, close out their regular-season schedule on Sunday, traveling to Carleton for a 1:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against the Knights.
The Records:
Saint Mary's Cardinals: 11-9 MIAC / 14-22 Overall
Carleton Knights: 3-15 MIAC / 6-26 Overall
GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats
Last Action:
The Cardinals put together a pair of dominating performances on Wednesday, as SMU cruised to a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep of St. Catherine at SMU Field, winning the opener
3-0, then completing the sweep with a
7-1 victory in the nightcap. Carleton, meanwhile, failed to score a run in dropping both ends of its conference doubleheader against Hamline on Thursday, falling 7-0 and 5-0 in Northfield, Minn.
Last Meeting — March 29, 2009:
The Knights scored in the top of the first inning in each game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference against the Cardinals at the SMU Field. That, however, would be the lone highlight for the Knights, as the Cardinals didn't let that early 1-0 deficit faze them, putting together back-to-back 10-run, 13-hit performances in sweeping Carleton
10-1 and
10-1 in the conference opener for both teams.
Saint Mary's Cardinals Around The Horn:
Pitchers
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) and
Jaci Prondzinski (Ettrick, Wis.) led the way for the Cardinals vs. St. Catherine Wednesday, as Betzold tossed a complete-game five-hitter in the opener, while Prondzinski did her one better, limiting the Wildcats to four hits in Game 2. …
Joanna Mangan (Chicago, Ill.) went 5-for-6 vs. the Wildcats Wednesday, collecting three hits in three at-bats in the opener, then going 2-for-3 in the nightcap. …
Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) added three hits and
Katy Gannon and Hanna Schmitt# (Rosemount, Minn.) each had two hits in Game 1 vs. St. Catherine, while Betzold and Kellie Simons# (Richfield, Minn.) joined Mangan with two hits in Game 2. … Stenseth and Schmitt each had at least one hit in both games vs. St. Catherine, extending their hitting streaks to five straight. Stenseth had a team-high 10-game hitting streak earlier this season. … With her five hits vs. St. Catherine, Mangan pushed her team-leading batting average to .373, while Simons (.364), Stenseth (.350) and Gannon (.325) are also hitting above .300. … Simons and Stenseth share the team lead in hits with 43, while Simons also boasts team-highs in at-bats (123) and doubles (12). … Gannon has scored a team-leading 26 runs and her three home runs — including a three-run, fifth-inning blast vs. Concordia on April 24 — are also tops on the team. … Stenseth has hit two of the team's three triples, and owns the team lead in total bases (63) and slugging percentage (.534). … Simons, Stenseth and Betzold have each posted five multiple-RBI games, while Gannon has compiled a team-leading 13 multiple-hit games. … Four of SMU's 10 home runs this season have been career firsts —
Morgan Stock (Amboy, Minn. / vs. Saint Benedict),
Angie Diercks (Red Wing, Minn. / vs. Hamline), Stenseth (vs. Augsburg) and Carter (vs. Hastings, Neb.). … The Cardinals have allowed five or more runs in 16 of their 22 losses. … SMU has scored three of more runs in all 14 of its wins — including a season-high 12 runs vs. Concordia in Game 2 on April 24. … With their 10-3 and 12-4 wins vs. Concordia on April 24, SMU has now scored 10 or more runs five times this season. … SMU's 3-2 and 7-6 losses to Saint Benedict last Sunday were SMU's third and fourth extra-inning games of the season — with all four games being decided in the eighth inning. … The Cardinals are 11-3 when scoring first, but just 3-19 when their opponent plates the first run. … The Cardinals put an end to a 20-game winless streak against St. Thomas with a 3-0 win over the Tommies on April 13, dating back to a 1-0 SMU victory during the 2001 season — when current head coach
Jen Miller was the team's starting catcher. … SMU also had the honor of snapping a pair of lengthy UST streaks — 71 games without shutout loss dating back to a 2008 loss to UW-Oshkosh in the NCAA national tournament and 165 without a shutout loss to an MIAC school, dating back to a 1-0 loss to Gustavus in 2003.
Carleton Knights Around The Horn:
With their two losses to Hamline on Thursday, the Knights enter today's DH in the midst of a seven-game losing streak. … Thursday's losses were the seventh and eighth shutout losses of the season for the Knights. … Hamline pounded out six home runs against the Knights Thursday, accounting for 10 of the Pipers' 13 runs. …
Kelly Parsons, who went 7-for-8 with three RBIs from the lead-off spot in Carleton's 6-5 and 14-6 losses at Concordia Monday, was 3-for-6 against the Pipers on Thursday. … Parsons is 15-for-21 in her last six games, raising her season batting average more 80 points. … Parsons now leads the team with a .400 batting average, while also boasting team highs in hits (40), RBIs (12), total bases (43), slugging percentage (.430) and walks (18). … Michael Johnson is the team leader in at-bats (104), runs (14) and doubles (8). … Parsons, Chelsea Yost (.333) and Johnson (.308) are all hitting above .300. … The Knights have been held to two runs or less in 21 of their 32 games, going 1-22 in that span. … Carleton is winless when its opponent scores in the first inning (0-10) and the Knights are just 1-21 when their opponent plates the game's first run.
