Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box | GameDay Preview

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team had plenty of hits in the opening game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Augsburg.

In fact, through the game's first seven innings, the Cardinals had banged out 11 hits, and had a runner on base in every inning — only to strand 10 base runners, including the bases loaded twice.

Then came the eighth, and Cardinal coach Jen Miller finally got the clutch hit she was so desperately waiting for, as Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) delivered a two-out, two-run home run to lift SMU to a 4-2, extra-inning victory over the Auggies.

And the Cardinals were at their late-inning best again in Game 2 — scoring once in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 3-3, getting their second extra-inning home run in as many games on Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) ninth-inning solo round-tripper, and, finally, getting a two-out, RBI single from Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) in the top of the 10th to lift SMU to a 5-4 win and a key conference sweep.

Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board in the first inning of the opener with a run-scoring single, as SMU jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Betzold made the one-run lead stand up through four innings, before the Auggies got to the senior left-hander for one run in the fifth and one in the sixth to take a 2-1 lead.

The Cardinals forced extra innings with a single run in the top of the seventh, as Ohl led off with a slap single, and Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) — the reigning MIAC Co-Player of the Week — delivered an RBI double to left.

In the eighth, Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) walked, moved to second on a sacrifice and scored when Stenseth delivered her fourth home run of the season over the left-field fence. Betzold set the Auggies down in order the bottom of the eighth to seal the win.

Olson, Gannon, Betzold and Carter all had two hits to fuel SMU's 12-hit Game 1 attack, while Betzold also finished with a complete-game five-hitter. She struck out six and did not walk a batter in winning for the ninth time this season.

SMU fell behind early in the second game, as Augsburg plated a single run in the bottom of the second, but the Cardinals answered in the top of the third, scoring twice — once on a Carter single and once on an Auggie error — to take a 2-1 lead.

The Auggies regained the lead in the fifth, scoring twice off SMU starter Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.), and setting up the Cardinals' late-game heroics — again.

Betzold opened the seventh with a single, and was pinch-ran for by Breanna Olson, who quickly moved to third on a one-out ground-rule double by Carter. Olson then scored the game-tying run on a wild pitch.

Augsburg threatened in the bottom of the seventh, putting a runner on third with one out, but Betzold — on in relief of Peterson — worked out of the jam, and then went on the offensive with her solo home run down the right-field line in the ninth to give the Cardinals a 4-3 advantage.

The Auggies answered Betzold's blast with a two-out single to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth, only to have Ohl answer right back with her two-out single to center in the 10th.

Stenseth led the way for the Cardinals in the nightcap, going 4-for-6, while Betzold and Carter each had two hits. Betzold picked up the pitching win in relief of Peterson, allowing one run on four hits in 5.2 innings, while striking out four.

The Cardinals (7-5 MIAC, 14-10 overall) are back in action this weekend, hosting Hamline in a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader on Saturday, and then entertaining Concordia in an 11 a.m. MIAC twinbill on Sunday.