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WINONA, Minn. — Talk about a case of bad timing — the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team picked the wrong time to have every facet of their game go haywire.

The Cardinals could not seem to do anything right Saturday, surrendering 14 runs, scoring only seven times — including runs in just three of theor 14 at-bats — while committing five errors.

And St. Catherine took advantage — outslugging the Cardinals 8-7 in eight innings in the first game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader, before completing the sweep with a 6-0 victory in the nightcap at the SMU Field.

The Wildcats gave SMU a sign of things to come early in the opener, as SCU scored four times in its first at-bat. SMU responded with back-to-back three-run innings in the first and second to take a 6-4 advantage. The two teams traded runs in the fourth, before the Wildcats pulled even, 7-7, with two runs in the top of the sixth. St. Catherine then sealed the win in the eighth, on an RBI groundout by Kaitlyn Luedtke.

SMU banged out 13 hits in the opener — including a 4-for-5 effort by Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.). Sam Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) and Melanie Hamilton (Homewood, Ill.) each added two hits.

Coach Jen Miller would have loved her Cardinals to repeat that 13-hit effort in Game 2, but St. Catherine pitcher Morgan Bohmbach had other ideas, limiting SMU to just five hits — with Stenseth accounting for three of them with her 3-for-3 effort.

St. Catherine scored once in the second and three times in the fourth, before icing the sweep-clinching win with single runs in the fifth and sixth.

The Cardinals (8-8 MIAC, 14-13 overall) are right back in action on Sunday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader against Macalester.