Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — With the conference season winding down, and the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team's hopes of landing a spot in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament on the line each time they step on the field, Cardinal coach Jen Miller knew how important Saturday's doubleheader against Hamline was.

After all, the Pipers entered Saturday's twinbill at the SMU Field having won seven straight and tied with SMU in the win column for the fourth and final playoff spot.

When the final out was recorded Saturday, however, the Cardinals left the Pipers right where they want them — in their rearview mirror — as SMU posted a key conference sweep with wins of 4-1 and 7-0.

The Cardinals proved to be very opportunistic in winning the opener, as SMU took advantage of three Pipers errors in the first two innings to score all four of its runs. Saint Mary's scored an unearned run on a throwing error by HU second baseman Lori Moldan, then made the most of two Piper errors in the second to plate three more runs and take a 4-0 advantage.

The Pipers would get one run back in the top of the third, but that was all they would get off SMU starter Mallory Betzold, who tossed a complete-game nine-hitter in winning her 12th game of the season.

Betzold was at her best in the fourth, when Hamline loaded the bases with no one out, only to have the Cardinal senior left-hander retire the next three batters she faced to end the threat.

Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) and Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) each had two hits to pace the Cardinals' 10-hit Game 1 attack, while SMU's other six hits came from six different players.

Betzold gave way to Kayla Peterson in the pitcher's circle for Game 2, and the Cardinal sophomore was virtually untouchable, allowing just two hits in five innings, before giving way to Angie Bates (Roselle, Ill.) for the final two innings.

SMU certainly gave Peterson plenty of offensive support, scoring a single run in the third — on an RBI double by Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) — before putting the game out of reach with back-to-back three-run innings in the fourth and fifth. Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) highlighted SMU's three-run fourth with her fifth home run of the season, while the Cardinals took advantage of three Piper errors in the fifth — two on the same play — to score their three fifth-inning runs.

Gannon, Betzold, Carter, Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) and Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) all had two hits for the Cardinals, who improved to 10-6 in the MIAC and leapfrogged Hamline and Bethel into third place in the conference standings with just over a week remaining in the regular season.

SMU (17-13 overall) is back in action on Wednesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 4 p.m. conference doubleheader against St. Catherine.