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ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team collected 25 hits in its two season-opening games against Cornell (Iowa) Saturday afternoon at the Rochester Bubble.

That was the good news.

The bad news? Twenty of those 25 hits were singles.

Cornell, meanwhile, picked up 29 hits in their first two games of the season — the different was, eight of those 29 hits went for home runs — as the Rams used the long ball to sweep the Cardinals 9-6 and 13-10 in nonconference action.

“I thought we swung the bats pretty well for our first time out, (Cornell) just had a little more pop in their bats than we did,” said SMU coach Jen Miller. “We had a lot of new faces in the lineup — six people got their first (collegiate) starts today — and I thought they did a pretty good job.”

The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 first-inning lead in the opener, before the Rams answered with a single run in the second and four more in the third — including back-to-back-to-back solo home runs. SMU got one run back in the top of the fourth, but Cornell pushed its lead to 9-3 with a pair of two-run innings in the fourth and fifth. SMU erupted for three runs in the top of the seventh, but it was too little, too late.

Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.), Anna Ramboldt (Goodhue, Minn.) and Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) each had three hits to pace SMU's 11-hit Game 1 attack. All 11 of the Cardinals' hits in the first game were singles.

The Cardinals again jumped out front early in the second game, scoring three times in the first and twice more in the second. The lead, however, was short-lived, as Cornell scored once in the third and seven times in the fourth to take the lead for good. The Rams would tack on three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth and seventh, while SMU scored once in the bottom of the fourth and four times in their final at-bat in the bottom of the seventh.

Raske led the Cardinals' attack with three hits, finishing her first collegiate doubleheader 5-for-8. Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with a double, while Thelen was 2-for-3 with a double.

The Cardinals (0-2 overall) are back in action on March 6, when they kick off their eight-game spring trip to Claremont, Fla., with a pair of nonconference games against Lebanon Valley.