Game 1 Box | Game 2 Box | GameDay Preview

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — After six scoreless innings, all it took was one swing of the bat for the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team to beat St. Olaf Tuesday afternoon, as Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) delivered a seventh-inning, leadoff home run to lift the Cardinals to a 1-0 victory in the opening game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.

The Cardinals made things look a little easier — and a little less nerve-wracking for head coach Jen Miller — in the nightcap, as SMU scored all eight of its runs in two innings in completing the sweep with an 8-0, six-inning victory.

Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) and St. Olaf's Natalee McNeff were locked in a pitchers' duel in the opener, as Betzold scattered six hits — and did not allow a batter past second base — while McNeff held SMU to four hits through six innings.

Then came the seventh — and what proved to be a wild final inning.

Gannon kicked things off with her first home run of the season to give SMU a 1-0 lead. Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) delivered a two-out single, and moved to second on a wild pitch, but was stranded when McNeff induced Joanna Mangan (Chicago, Ill.) to strike out to end the inning.

After getting Kari Zimmerman to ground out, Betzold surrendered back-to-back singles, putting Oles on first and second with just one out. But the senior calmly worked out of the jam with a pop fly to second and a ground-out to short to seal the win.

Hailey Ohl (Rosemount, Minn.) went 2-for-2 in the opener, while Gannon, Olson, Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.), and Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) all chipped in one hit.

Game 2 started eerily similar to Game 1, as both teams failed to score in the first two innings, but the Cardinals broke through in the second, as Michelle Carne (Escanaba, Mich.) delivered a two-out, two-run single to give SMU a 2-0 advantage.

And with Angie Bates (Roselle, Ill.) doing her best Betzold imitation by keeping the Oles off the board through her five innings of work, two runs was more than enough.

SMU put the game out of reach in the sixth, scoring six times — two coming on a Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) single, another on a Betzold single and the last three on Gannon's second HR of the afternoon.

Carter paced SMU's nine-hit attack, going 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, while seven other Cardinals each had one hit. Bates went the first five innings on the mound, scattering three hits, while strikeout out two and not walking a batter. Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.) pitched a hitless sixth.

The Cardinals, who improve to 3-3 in the MIAC and 10-6 overall, are right back in action on Thursday, hosting Macalester in a conference doubleheader at the SMU Field. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.