Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | GameDay Preview

ST. PETER, Minn. — For the first six innings of Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Gustavus, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team matched the Gusties run-for-run.

In fact, it was the Cardinals who broke a 4-4 stalemate in the top of the seventh inning of the opener on an RBI double by Nat Boissiere (Plymouth, Minn.)

Unfortunately for coach Jen Miller, that would be the last time a Cardinal runner would cross the plate, as Gustavus answered SMU's seventh-inning rally with a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh to earn a 6-5 victory, before completing the conference sweep with a 2-0 win in the nightcap.

Boissiere got the SMU offense jump-started with an RBI single in the top of the first inning of Game 1, only to have Gustavus answer with three runs in its first at-bat. A Boissiere RBI groundout and a Gustie error helped SMU pull even, 3-3, in the top of the third, with both teams scoring runs in the fourth to set up the seventh-inning fireworks.

Hailey Ohl (Bloomington, Minn.) opened the SMU seventh with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) and scored on Boissiere's double to center.

The lead was short-lived, however, as Gustavus got an RBI single from Sarah Rozell to tie the game at 5-5, then scored the game-winning run on a Cardinal error.

Ohl was unstoppable — literally — in the opener, as the senior went 4-for-4, while Boissiere was 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Julie Bartosz (Mokena, Ill.) was 2-for-3 to highlight the Cardinals' 11-hit attack.

The Cardinals finished with seven hits in the nightcap, but could not string any hits together — collecting one hit, all singles, in each of the seven innings.

Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) and Mel Hamilton (Homewood, Ill.) accounted for four of those seven hits, as the SMU duo each had a pair of hits. Ohl, Paige Carter (Rosemount, Minn.) and Anna Ramboldt (Goodhue, Minn.) accounted for SMU's other three hits.

The Cardinals (9-7 MIAC, 16-11 overall) are right back in action on Sunday, as SMU hosts Macalester in a conference doubleheader at the SMU Field. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.