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EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team held UW-Eau Claire to just two runs in the first four innings of their nonconference doubleheader Tuesday.

Over the following six innings, however, the Blugolds' bats were unstoppable, as UW-Eau Claire scored in every inning — plating two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to post a 6-1 win in the opener, then following that up with back-to-back three-run innings to kick off Game 2 en route to a sweep-clinching 9-1, five-inning victory.

UW-Eau Claire jumped out to a quick, 2-0 advantage — scoring two runs on two hits in the bottom of the first. After three straight scoreless innings, the Blugolds threatened to break the game wide open in the fifth, loading the bases with no one out. Emily Muller delivered a two-run double, and the Blugolds reloaded the bases on a Nikki Bromelkamp walk. But SMU escaped any more damage, as pitcher Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.) induced back-to-back force outs at home and a groundout to the pitcher.

The Cardinals broke Laura Raflik's shutout bid in the sixth, as reigning MIAC Player of the Week Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) delivered an RBI single to score Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) from second. The Blugolds answered in the bottom of the sixth, recording their third two-run inning of the day to push their lead to 6-1.

The Cardinals, who put the lead-off batter on in the second, third and fourth — but came up empty each time — finished with seven hits against Raflik, led by Stenseth, who went 2-for-3, while Carter, Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.), Sam Borawski (Stickney, Ill.), Anna Ramboldt (Goodhue, Minn.) and Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) accounted for SMU's other five — all singles.

UW-Eau Claire wasted little time putting Game 2 out of reach, as the Blugolds scored three times in their first at-bat, and followed that up with three more in their second to take a 6-0 advantage.

It was 7-0 before SMU finally got on the board in the top of the fourth, as Michelle Carne (Escanaba, Mich.) delivered a run-scoring single. UW-EC would tack on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to ice the eight-run, five-inning victory.

Ohl finished with two of the Cardinals' five hits — including a fifth-inning lead-off triple — while Carter, Stenseth and Carne had the other three.

SMU (15-17 overall) is back in action on Thursday, traveling to La Crosse, Wis., for a 4 p.m. nonconference doubleheader against UW-La Crosse.