WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team returns home on Thursday, as the Cardinals host Macalester in an MIAC doubleheader at the SMU Field. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (3-3 MIAC | 10-6 Overall) vs.
Macalester Scots (0-2 MIAC | 7-9 Overall)

GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats | GameDay Program

Last Action:
The Cardinals evened their conference record at 3-3 on Tuesday, as SMU swept its MIAC doubleheader vs. St. Olaf, winning 1-0 and 8-0 in six innings. … Macalester, meanwhile, dropped a pair of games to Carleton in its conference opener on Tuesday, as the Scots fell 6-3, 7-1.

Last Meeting — April 10, 2010:
The Cardinals scored two runs in the top of the sixth and top of the seventh en route to a 7-4 victory in the opener, then erupted for five runs in the top of the eighth in outlasting the Scots 11-6 in Game 2 in St. Paul, Minn.

Up Next:
The Cardinals are back on the road on Saturday, as SMU heads to Arden Hills, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader against Bethel. … Macalester, meanwhile, is also back in action on Saturday, as the Scots host St. Olaf in a 1 p.m. MIAC twinbill at Macalester Field.

Saint Mary's Cardinals Around The Horn:
2011 Schedule | 2011 Roster | 2011 Overall Statistics
With their 1-0 win over St. Olaf in Game 1 Tuesday, the Cardinals had played three straight one-run games, and four one-run games in their last five. … Tuesday's Game 2 win, meanwhile, marked the fourth time this season SMU has won by the eight-run rule. … Tuesday's sweep of St. Olaf was the Cardinals' first doubleheader sweep of the season and the first sweep by shutout since SMU blanked St. Catherine 3-0, 7-0 on April 28, 2019. … Katy Gannon (Roselle, Ill.) led the way for SMU against St. Olaf Tuesday, belting two home runs — a game-winning, solo shot in the top of the seventh in Game 1, and a three-run sixth-inning shot in Game 2. … The home runs were the first two of the season for Gannon, who now has 14 career home runs. … Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) went 2-for-2 in Game 1 vs. St. Olaf, while Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) was 2-for-3 in Game 2. … SMU's six Game 1 hits vs. the Oles came from five different players, while seven Cardinals accounted for their nine Game 2 hits. … Mallory Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) collected her team-leading seventh pitching win with a complete-game eight-hitter vs. St. Olaf Tuesday, while Angie Bates (Roselle, Ill.) earned her second win of the season — and second of her career — with five innings of three-hit ball in the nightcap. … Ohl enters Thursday's DH vs. Macalester hitting a team-best .457. She also leads the team in hits (21), while Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) is the team-leader in runs (15), and Carter boasts team-highs in doubles (5), home runs (3), RBIs (20), total bases (31) and slugging percentage (.620). … Two of Carter's three home runs have been grand slams. … Gannon and Stenseth each have had two home runs — with Stenseth's first HR accounting for the Cardinals' first hit of the 2011 season (a lead-off home run against Haverford on March 6) — while Betzold and Kellie Simons (Richfield, Minn.) have hit the other SMU round-trippers. . … SMU, which is hitting .295 as a team, has seven regulars who are hitting .300 or better — Ohl (.457), Michelle Carne (Escanaba, Mich. / .344), Carter (.340), Betzold (.326), Gannon (.326), Mangan (.314) and Stenseth (.302). … Ohl, who has hit safely in 14 of SMU's 16 games, has had two or more hits seven times this season. … Carter owns a team-best four multiple-RBI games — including a three-hit, five-RBI effort against the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford on March 10. … Betzold enters Thursday's DH vs. Macalester with a team-best 7-4 record and a 1.99 ERA. She has tossed 63.1 innings and struck out a team-leading 34 batters, while walking just six.. … The Cardinals boast seven players who have started all 16 games this season. … Two of SMU's 10 wins have been against nationally ranked teams — No. 22 Coe (4-2) and No. 7 Central-Iowa (5-1). … Four of the Cardinals' six losses this season have been by one run — 6-5 vs. Wheaton (Ill.), 5-4 vs. Southwestern (Texas) and 3-2 vs. St. Thomas and Saint Benedict. … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 17-4 in the first inning. … SMU has scored first in eight of its 10 wins. … The Cardinals are 5-1 when leading after the sixth inning. … SMU banged out a season-high 19 hits and 12 runs vs. UP-Bradford. … With their split against Saint Benedict last Saturday, the Cardinals and Blazers have now played six straight one-run games in the last three seasons — including five being decided by the same 3-2 score. … Officially, Tuesday's doubleheader at St. Olaf was the Cardinals' first “road” game. SMU is 7-3 in neutral-site games and 1-3 on their home field.

Macalester Scots Around The Horn:
2011 Schedule | 2011 Roster | 2011 Overall Statistics
After opening the season with four straight wins and victories in six of their first seven games, the Scots have gone 1-8 in their last nine contests, including Tuesday's back-to-back losses at Carleton. … Macalester's first 18 games — including Thursday's two at Saint Mary's — have all been played on the road. The Scots open their home season on Saturday against St. Olaf. … Cleo Nagy and Amanda Knopf each had three hits in Macalester's two games vs. Carleton on Tuesday. … Nagy enters Thursday's DH at Saint Mary's with a team-leading .360 batting average. She also leads the team in at-bats (50), runs (10), hits (18), doubles (8), and total bases (26). … Courtney Nussbaumer has driven in a team-best 11 runs and boasts a team-high .537 slugging percentage, while Hayley Reeves has accounted for three of the team's five home runs and has driven in 11 runs. … Amanda Knopf and Meghan Merriman have been the workhorses of the Scot pitching staff, as Knopf owns a 5-5 record and a 3.65 ERA in 61.1 innings, while Merriman is 2-3 with a 5.25 ERA in 33.1 IP. … Knopf has struck out 59 batters. … Macalester is 6-0 when leading after six innings, but 1-4 when trailing heading into the seventh inning. … After being outscored in each of the game's first five innings, the Scots have outscored their opponents 25-11 after the fifth inning — 11-9 in the sixth inning and 14-2 in the seventh. … Macalester has out-hit its opponents in six of its seven wins.