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WINONA, Minn. — For the second game in a row, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team found themselves nursing a 3-1 lead heading into the sixth inning Tuesday afternoon against St. Olaf.

Fortunately for the Cardinals, the Oles' final two at-bats were a little less dramatic, as SMU — which let its 3-1, Game 1 advantage slip through their grasp in a 7-6, eight-inning setback — held St. Olaf off the board in recording a 3-1 victory and a split in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at the SMU Field.

Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) belted her team-leading fourth home run of the season to give SMU a 1-0 third-inning lead in the opener, and the Cardinals pushed that advantage to 3-1 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth.

By the time St. Olaf finished batting in the sixth, however, that two-run lead had transformed into a 4-3 deficit, as St. Olaf scored three runs on three hits — including a lead-off home run by Maggie Scholer and a two-run double by Natalie Mironov.

Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) delivered a game-tying sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings — and that's when things got really interesting.

St. Olaf belted a pair of eighth-inning home runs to push its lead to 7-4, but the Cardinals pushed back, scoring once on a wild pitch and once more on a St. Olaf throwing effort to make it a one-run game. That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as St. Olaf pitcher Amy Prok got Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) to fly out to center to end the threat.

Michelle Carne (Escanaba, Mich.) went 3-for-4 to pace SMU's nine-hit Game 1 attack, while Raske and Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) each had two hits in the opener.

St. Olaf got out of the gates quickly, scoring in their first at-bat, but that would be the only run the Oles would get off SMU starter Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.). Peterson limited the Oles to seven hits — all singles — while striking out four en route to her 11th win of the season.

The Cardinals evened the score at 1-1 on a two-out single by Melanie Hamilton (Homewood, Ill.) in the third, and then took the lead for good on Erin Stenseth's (Eau Claire, Wis.) two-out, two-run double in the fifth.

Stenseth finished with three hits in three at-bats, while Hamilton and Raske each chipped in two hits in SMU's Game 2 victory.

The Cardinals (8-6 MIAC, 14-12 overall) are back in action on Thursday, as they travel to Macalester for a 4:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against the Scots.