ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team kicks off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, as the Cardinals head to Gustavus for a 2 p.m. doubleheader against the Gusties. SMU is then back on the Gustavus diamond on Sunday for a 10 a.m. MIAC twinbill against St. Olaf.
 
The Matchups:
Saturday, March 29 | Gustavus Field * St. Peter, Minn. | 2 p.m.
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 MIAC | 4-6 Overall) at Gustavus Gusties (0-0 MIAC | 5-7 Overall)
Sunday, March 30 | Gustavus Field * St. Peter, Minn. | 2 p.m.
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 MIAC | 4-6 Overall) vs. St. Olaf Oles (0-0 MIAC | 0-8 Overall
 
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Last Action:
The Cardinals closed out their eight-game spring trip to Clermont, Fla., with a pair of wins on March 7, beating Cornell (Iowa) 1-0 and Webster 13-2 in five innings. … Gustavus closed out its eight-game stay in Tucson, Ariz., on Monday, falling to George Fox 16-5. … St. Olaf closed out its six-game spring trip to Tucson, Ariz., with a pair of 8-0 losses to George Fox Wednesday.
 
SMU vs. Gustavus — A Year Ago:
April 27, 2013: For the first six innings of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Gustavus, SMU 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 in St. Peter, Minn.
May 3, 2013: SMU entered the pool play portion of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament averaging nearly six runs scored per game through their 31 regular-season games. In their two tournament games, however, the Cardinals managed just six runs — combined — as SMU dropped a tournament-opening 11-2 decision to Carleton, before being eliminated by Gustavus 8-4 at Caswell Park in Mankato, Minn.
 
SMU vs. St. Olaf — A Year Ago:
April 30, 2013: SMU had its offense kicked into high gear in the opening game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Olaf. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, that high-octane offense ran out of gas in Game 2, as SMU — which erupted for eight runs in a five-inning, 8-0 win over the Oles in the opener — managed just a fourth-inning tally in the nightcap, falling to St. Olaf 3-1 on a two-run, walk-off home run in the bottom of the seventh inning in Northfield, Minn.
 
Up Next:
The Cardinals are scheduled to kick off the home portion of their season — weather permitting — on Tuesday, as SMU hosts Carleton in a 3:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader. … Gustavus and St. Olaf are also back in action on Tuesday, as the Oles head back to St. Peter, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. conference twinbill against the Gusties.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
Saturday's doubleheader at Gustavus will be the first official "road" games for the Cardinals, who have played their first 10 contests at neutral sites — the Rochester (Minn.) Dome for its nonconference doubleheader against UW-River Falls on Feb. 26, and Clermont, Fla., for their eight-game spring trip. … Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) has enjoyed a stellar start to her collegiate career as a Cardinal, leading the team with a .471 batting average. The freshman also boasts team-highs in hits (16), doubles (3), RBIs (10), total bases (19) and slugging percentage (.559). … Opsahl enters this weekend's doubleheaders against Gustavus and St. Olaf having collected at least one hit in all 10 of SMU's games thus far. … Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) owns a team-high five multiple-hit games, while Harper has the top single-game output, going 4-for-4 against Muhlenberg on March 2. … Opsahl, meanwhile, has posted a team-leading three multiple-RBI games. … Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) is also hitting above .400 through SMU's first 10 games, posting a .452 batting average. … Raske leads the team in walks (6) and on-base percentage (.541) and is second to Opsahl in hits (14), doubles (2), RBIs (6) and slugging percentage (.516). … Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.), who owns a .378 batting average, has scored a team-best 10 runs. … Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.), who picked up her first collegiate pitching win — and her first collegiate shutout — with a four-hit gem against Cornell (Iowa) on March 7, owns a team-leading 0.67 ERA, while sharing the team lead in wins (2) with Jess Wirz (Eau Claire, Wis.). … Betzold has tossed a team-leading 21.0 innings, and has recorded three complete games and the team's lone save. … Betzold and Wirz — who notched her first collegiate pitching win in a 4-2 victory over UW-River Falls on Feb. 26 — have each struck out 12 batters this season. … SMU has outscored its opponents 13-6 in the third inning, but have been outscored 11-5 in the first and 13-7 in the fourth. … The Cardinals have held their opponents to two runs or less in three of their four wins. … SMU has outhit its opponent in three of its four wins, but the Cardinals are winless (0-4) when their opponent boasts more hits. … SMU is unbeaten when leading after four innings. … The Cardinals have, or will still, square off against three teams that are ranked in the NFCA Preseason Poll this season — No. 7 Luther, No. 13 Lebanon Valley and No. 14 St. Thomas.
 
Scouting The Gustavus Gusties:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
The Gusties enter their conference twinbill against Saint Mary's mired in a three-game losing streak. … GAC surrendered a season-high 16 runs in its spring trip-ending 16-5 loss to George Fox. … Six of Gustavus' 11 games have been decided by one run — including four of the Gusties' seven losses. … Shelby Nosan heads into the weekend as the team's offensive leader, boasting a team-best .463 batting average, while also leading the team in virtually every other offensive categories, including at-bats (41), runs (12), hits (19), doubles (5), triples (1), home runs (1), total bases (29), slugging percentage (.707), walks (4) and on-base percentage (.522). … Kalley Morgan is second to Nosan with a .359 batting average, and the duo share the team's RBI lead with eight each. … Nosan and Morgan have each recorded five multiple-hit games — with Nosan owning the team's two four-hit performances. … GAC has belted four home runs through 12 games. … The Gusties have played three extra-inning games — an 8-7 nine-inning win over UW-Eau Claire, a 5-4 eight-inning loss to the University of Dubuque and a 5-4, nine-inning setback vs. Denison. … GAC has outscored its opponents 16-6 in the first inning — and have scored first in all four of its five wins. … Gustavus is 5-0 when leading after the sixth inning, but are 0-6 when tied or trailing heading into the seventh inning.
 
Scouting The St. Olaf Oles:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
St. Olaf heads into Sunday's showdown with Saint Mary's still searching for its first win of the 2014 season. The Oles dropped both games against UW-Stout at the Rosemount Dome on March 12, when went 0-6 in its six spring-trip games in Tucson, Ariz. — including three straight setbacks vs. George Fox. … St. Olaf scored a season-high seven runs in a 9-7 loss to UW-Stout on March 12 — in their other seven games, the Oles have plated just eight runs combined. … Brooke Paradise (.316) and Haley Schreier (.304) are the only Oles hitting above .300 heading into Sunday's games against Saint Mary's. … Schreier also leads the team in hits (7), while sharing the team lead with Paradise in doubles (2) and RBIs (3). … Becca Walz and Stephanie Borndale have each scored a team-best four runs, while Walz has accounted for two of the team's three stolen bases. … Danielle Collins has carried the brunt of the pitching load through eight games, hurling 33.1 innings, while compiling an 0-5 record and a 4.41 ERA. … Collins has also recorded 14 of the team's 16 strikeouts and owns five complete games.