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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The final scores may indicate otherwise, but Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball coach Jen Miller will be the first to tell you, there was nothing easy about the Cardinals' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep of St. Catherine Friday afternoon.

The final score of the opener was 8-4 — with the Cardinals needing four runs in the top of the eighth inning to get past the Wildcats, while Game 2's final was an impressive 10-2 — an outcome that including an SMU four-run seventh inning.

“We made things interesting, that's for sure,” said Miller. “But at this stage in the season, the bottom line is, we came away with two wins — and that's all that really matters.”

The Cardinals got out to a quick 3-0 lead in the third inning — highlighted by a two-run double by Michelle Carne (Escanaba, Mich.) — then added another run in the fifth to boast what appeared to be a commanding 4-1 advantage.

St. Catherine, however, responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the fifth to knot things up at 4-4 — and set up the Cardinals' eighth-inning outburst, which included an RBI single by Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) and a two-run single by Joanna Mangan (Chicago, Ill.).

Carne and Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) each went 3-for-4 in the opener, while Mangan chipped in a 2-for-4 effort with two RBIs. Olson and Carne also delivered a pair of RBIs for SMU.

SMU picked up right where it left off in the nightcap, scoring once in the first and twice more in the second to take a 3-0 lead. Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) launched her seventh home run of the season to account for the Cardinals' first-inning run, while Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) and Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) each had run-scoring singles in the second.

The Wildcats cut the Cardinals' lead to 3-2 with two runs in the third, before SMU broke the game open with a three-run fourth and their four-run seventh.

The Cardinals boasted three players — Stenseth, Gannon and Mangan — who had three hits, while Simons and Carter each finished with a pair of hits. Stenseth added three RBIs and a pair of runs scored, with Gannon and Simons each driving in two runs.

The Cardinals (12-6 MIAC, 19-13 overall) are right back in action on Saturday, hosting Carleton in another key conference showdown at the SMU Field. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.