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TUCSON, Ariz. — For the second day in a row, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team squared off against Iowa Wesleyan and DeSales University in a pair of nonconference games Wednesday.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the second time around didn't go the same way — as Iowa Wesleyan beat SMU 3-2, while DeSales followed up with a 3-2 win of its own.

“We led 2-0 heading into the fifth inning of both games, but weren't able to close out the wins,” SMU coach Jen Miller said. “We struggled at the plate both games and also made some costly mental errors.

“It's early in the season, but we've got to do a better job mentally — we are making too many of those types of mistakes.”

Against Iowa Wesleyan, Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) was SMU's top hitter, as the junior went 2-for-3. Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.), Nat Boissiere (Plymouth, Minn.), Anna Ramboldt (Goodhue, Minn.) and Mel Hamilton (Homewood, Ill.) all added one single.

The Cardinals got on the board in their first at-bat, when Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) reached on a fielder's choice, advanced on a walk and scored on Ramboldt's RBI single. SMU's other run came in the fifth inning, when Ohl reached on an error, stole second and scored on Boissiere's single.

Iowa Wesleyan scored all three of its runs in the fifth inning, taking advantage of two hits, a fielding error and a walk.

“We weren't able to make some key defensive plays when we needed to,” Miller said. “We're going to have to work on making those plays in the field if we want to be successful.”

In the second game, hitting proved to be the Cardinals' weakness, as SMU was outhit 9-4. Ohl, Carter, Boissiere and Thelen all had one hit each for the Cardinals.

“We only had four hits and they were all in different innings,” Miller said. “We just couldn't get anything going.”

Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.), who took the Game 1 loss after relieving Carter in the middle of the fifth, went the distance against DeSales, allowing nine hits, striking out three and walking one.

With the losses, the Cardinals fall to 2-2 on the season and play again Thursday against Robert Morris University and Howard Payne University.