WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team honors its four graduating seniors during Tuesday's final MIAC doubleheader against Carleton at the SMU Field. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (13-7 MIAC | 20-14 Overall) vs.
Carleton Knights (6-14 MIAC | 11-25 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals collected a key conference split against second-place and playoff-bound Gustavus on Monday in St. Peter, Minn. SMU opened with a 4-1 win, then dropped the nightcap 5-0. … Carleton, meanwhile, is also coming into Tuesday's doubleheader having split a conference twinbill on Monday in Northfield, Minn. The Knights dropped an 8-4 decision in Game 1 vs. Bethel, before rallying for a 9-7 win in Game 2.

Last Meeting — May 2, 2010:
SMU feasted on Carleton pitching to the tune of 9-1 and 10-2 MIAC victories, but in order for the Cardinals to earn a spot in the four-team conference playoffs, they needed Augsburg to do the same — sweep its final two MIAC games against St. Olaf. They didn't, as St. Olaf officially eliminated SMU from playoff contention with a 2-1 victory in Game 1.

Up Next:
Today's conference games are the final regular-season contests for both the Cardinals and the Knights.

Cardinals' MIAC Tournament Picture:
The Cardinals improved to 13-7 in conference play with Monday's split and are sitting in fourth place in the conference standings, one win ahead of Hamline (12-8) and three wins in front of Saint Benedict (10-8). The Pipers close out their conference season on Tuesday at St. Olaf (9-9), while Saint Benedict still has MIAC doubleheaders against Macalester (1-19) and Gustavus (16-3-1) in the next two days. … St. Thomas (20-0) and Gustavus are already the tournament's top two seeds, while Bethel (14-8) currently holds the No. 3 spot, but their MIAC schedule is complete. If SMU and Bethel end the season tied, the Royals hold the tiebreaker, having swept the Cardinals earlier this season. A sweep of Carleton Tuesday would give SMU the No. 3 seed, while a split would mostly likely be enough to get the Cardinals into the tournament, but would bring several tiebreakers into the mix.

Saint Mary's Cardinals Around The Horn:
2011 Schedule | 2011 Roster | 2011 Overall Statistics
With their split against Gustavus on Monday, the Cardinals have now won eight of their last 10 MIAC games. … GAC's 5-0 Game 2 win Monday snapped the Cardinals' five-game winning streak. … The Cardinals improved to 20-14 with their 4-1 win in the opener against the Gusties on Monday, marking SMU's first 20-win season since 2007. … Joanna Mangan (Chicago, Ill.) had two hits in Game 1 vs. Gustavus Monday, while Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) had a pair of hits in Game 2. SMU's other seven hits came from seven different players. … Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.) tossed a complete-game six-hitter in winning for the fourth time in six starts in the opener vs. Gustavus. The SMU sophomore had her shutout bid snapped on a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the seventh. … Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) enters Tuesday's DH vs. Carleton boasting a team-best .394 batting average — she is one of seven Cardinals hitting .300 or better. … Carter also leads the Cardinals in hits (43), doubles (11), RBIs (32) and total bases (63). … Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) leads the team in at-bats (119) and runs (29). … Gannon launched her team-leading seventh home run of the season in the second game vs. St. Catherine last Friday, giving SMU 18 home runs for the season — equaling the third-highest home run production in program history. … Gannon has now hit 19 career home runs — ranking her second all-time, seven HRs back of career leader Jill Hocking. … Carter is the team's leader in multiple-hit games (15) and multiple-RBI outings (8), while also collecting at least one hit in 25 of the team's 34 games. … Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) collected her team-leading 13th win of the season in SMU's 8-4 Game 1 win over St. Catherine last Friday. The 13 pitching wins are a single-season career high for the senior left-hander. … Betzold enters Tuesday's DH vs. Carleton 13-7 with a 2.71 ERA. She boasts nine complete games and has thrown 118.2 innings, striking out 70 and walking just 11. … Betzold has walked just one batter in her last 49.0 innings. … SMU's 14 runs in its 14-1, five-inning Game 1 win vs. the Cobbers on April 17 were a season high. … SMU erupted for 10 first-inning runs vs. Concordia in the opener on April 17, marking the most runs scored in a single inning since scoring 13 runs in the second inning of a 27-0 win over Mount Mary College in Tucson, Ariz., on March 20, 2009. … With their eight-inning Game 1 win vs. St. Catherine last Friday, the Cardinals are now 4-0 in extra-inning games this season. … SMU's two extra-inning wins vs. Augsburg on April 13 marked the first time both games of a Cardinal doubleheader have gone to extra inning since SMU dropped 3-2 and 7-6 decisions to Saint Benedict on April 25, 2010. … The Cardinals' 5-4, 10-inning win in Game 2 last Wednesday was their longest game since April 27, 2006, when UW-La Crosse outlasted SMU 3-2 in 11 innings. … The Cardinals' 14-1, five-inning win vs. Concordia on April 17 marked the sixth time this season SMU has won by the eight-run rule. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 34-12 in the first inning. … SMU has scored first in 17 of its 20 wins. … The Cardinals are 10-1 when leading after the sixth inning. … The Cardinals have held their opponents to two runs or less in 15 of their 20 wins. … SMU's 1-0, 8-0 sweep of St. Olaf on April 5 was the Cardinals' first sweep by shutout since SMU blanked St. Catherine 3-0, 7-0 on April 28, 2010.

Carleton Knight Around The Horn:
2011 Schedule | 2011 Roster | 2011 Overall Statistics
The Knights enter Tuesday's doubleheader at Saint Mary's having played six games in the last five days. … Carleton's 9-7 Game 2 win over Bethel Monday snapped the Knights' 11-game losing streak. … Monday's split marked the first time in the last five doubleheaders the Knights did not have one of the two games decided by the eight-run rule. … Jenny Ramey and Kaitlin Bagley combined for five of Carleton's 10 hits in the opener vs. Bethel Monday, as Ramey went 3-for-4, while Bagley was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. … Katrina Harper and Chelsea Yost each went 3-for-4 in the nigthcap vs. Bethel, while Harper also drove in three runs and scored twice. … Twenty-one of the Knights' 23 hits vs. Bethel Monday were singles. … Ramey enters Tuesday's DH at Saint Mary's as the Knights' offensive leader, boasting team highs in batting average (.461), at-bats (115), runs (37), hits (53), triples (4), total bases (76) and slugging percentage (.661). … Ramey is one of five Knights hitting above .300. … Jocelyn Friedman has clubbed a team-leading five home runs, one more than Ramey. … Ramey has hit four of the team's five triples. … Carleton has used four different pitchers this season, with Kaitlin Bagley leading the way in ERA (5.48), wins (5), innings pitched (93.2), complete games (10) and strikeouts (66). … Nine of Carleton's 34 games have been decided by one run — with the Knights going 2-7 in those nine games. … Carleton has scored first in eight of its 11 wins this season.