WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team played with fire Thursday afternoon, and nearly got burned — twice.
The Cardinals rallied from a 2-0 deficit to lead 4-2 through five innings in the opening game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Olaf. But the Oles singed SMU for seven runs in the sixth and one more in the seventh en route to a 10-4 victory.
And SMU almost let Game 2 slip through their grasp as well, giving up a 2-0 lead when St. Olaf's Maggie Scholer belted a two-run home run — the Oles' third of the day — in the top of the sixth inning. This time around, however, the Cardinals answered back, getting a run-scoring single from
Hanna Schmitt (Rosemount, Minn.) in the bottom of the sixth to preserve the split with a 3-2 victory.
“It wasn't our best performance, but I was happy with the way we bounced back after losing that first game,” said SMU coach
Jen Miller. “We fought our way back (in the first game) to take a 4-2 lead, then just let (St. Olaf) tee off on us (in the sixth). And when they scored those two runs in the sixth (in the second game), I thought, 'Oh, no, not again.' Fortunately, we caught a break (in the bottom of the sixth) and took advantage of it.”
The Cardinals were cruising along in the second game, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third on a two-run single by
Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.), but with one swing of the bat, St. Olaf's Scholer laced an 0-2 pitch over the left-field fence — and it was quickly a 2-2 game.
In their half of the sixth,
Julianne Bartosz (Mokena, Ill.) laced a one-out single up the middle and was safe second on a throwing error by St. Olaf shortstop Mackenzie Wolter.
Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) grounded into a fielder's choice, moving Bartosz to third and the SMU freshman scored the game-winning run when Schmit's single off the end of the bat dropped in for an infield single.
Fueled by their three-run fifth — which included an RBI groundout by Schmitt and an RBI single by Betzold — SMU appeared to have Game 1 well in hand.
Then came the Oles' half of the six.
St. Olaf's Jessica Wilson started things off with a lead-off home run, and by the time the Cardinals got Scholer to strike out swinging for the final out, the Oles had added six more runs — four on a grand slam home run by Kjirsten Speer — to put the game out of reach.
“I don't know what happened,” said Miller of the Oles' Game 1 sixth inning. “We seemed to be rolling along and then, boom, they hit a couple bombs and before you know it, we're down big. Everyone was pretty disappointed, but I was glad we were able to put that game behind us and come back the way we did.
“We needed that win in the second game.”
Gannon and
Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) each banged out two hits to pace SMU's six-hit Game 1 attack, while Schmitt, Betzold and Bartosz all had two hits to account for six of the Cardinals' nine hits in the nightcap.
Jaci Prondzinski (Ettrick, Wis.) went the distance in winning Game 2, scattering nine hits and allowing two runs in winning her third game of the season.
The Cardinals (1-1 MIAC, 4-10 overall) are back in action on Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader against Macalester.
