WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team opens the home portion of its schedule on Tuesday, as the Cardinals host Carleton in a 3:30 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at the SMU Field.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-2 MIAC | 6-8 Overall) vs. Carleton Knights (1-1 MIAC | 3-14 Overall)
 
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Last Action:
The Cardinals played four conference games last weekend in St. Peter, Minn., falling to Gustavus 5-1 and 8-0 in the teams' MIAC opener on Saturday, before rebounding with 3-0 and 10-3 victories over St. Olaf a day later. … Carleton is coming off a split of its conference opener last Sunday in St. Paul, Minn., as the Knights beat Macalester 8-1 in the opener, but dropped the nightcap 6-3.
 
SMU vs. Carleton — A Year Ago:
May 3, 2013: SMU headed into the pool play portion of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament having played every team in the conference during the regular season. Every team but Carleton, that is. And the Cardinals' first look at the Knights was not a memorable one, as Carleton used a pair of four-run innings — both sparked by lead-off home runs — handed SMU an 11-2, five-inning setback.
 
Up Next:
The Cardinals hit the road on Wednesday, traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., for a 4 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Augsburg. … Carleton is also back in action on Wednesday, hosting Gustavus in a 3:30 p.m. conference twinbill at Knights Field in Northfield, Minn.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
SMU's 3-0 win over St. Olaf on March 30 snapped the Cardinals' two-game losing streak. … With the sweep of St. Olaf, the Cardinals improved to 4-2 in their last six games. … SMU's 3-0 victory against St. Olaf was its second shutout win of the season — the Cardinals blanked Cornell (Iowa) 1-0 on March 7. … Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) and Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) enjoyed "perfect" games against St. Olaf on March 30 — Raske went 3-for-3 in SMU's 3-0 Game 1 win, while Thelen finished 4-for-4 in the Cardinals' 10-3 victory in the nightcap. … Raske drove in a career-high five runs in SMU's Game 2 win over the Oles — three coming on her first home run of the season in the second inning. … Thelen's four hits in Game 2 vs. St. Olaf were a career-high. … Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) had her season-opening 11-game hitting streak snapped in Game 2 against Gustavus on March 29. … Opsahl has reached base safely in 13 of the team's 14 contests. … Raske and Opsahl enter SMU's conference doubleheader against Carleton as the team's offensive leaders, boasting batting averages of .452 and .413, respectively. The two share the team lead in hits with 19 and doubles with three, while Raske owns the team lead in RBIs (11), total bases (25), slugging percentage (.595), walks (8) and on-base percentage (.540). … Raske's HR vs. St. Olaf was SMU's second of the season — Katie Krull (Rochester, Minn.) accounted for the other one with her first collegiate round-tripper against Ohio Northern on March 4. … Thelen shares the team lead in runs scored (12) with Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.). Thelen scored a career-best four runs in the second game against St. Olaf on March 30. … Raske and Thelen have each compiled a team-high six multiple-hit games this season, while Opsahl owns a team-leading three multiple-RBI games. … Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) tossed her first collegiate two-hitter in blanking St. Olaf 3-0 in Game 1. … Betzold's complete-game shutout was her second of the season. … Betzold tossed three scoreless innings in relief of Jess Wirz (Eau Claire, Wis.) in Game 2 vs. the Oles — giving the freshman 10 straight scoreless innings — en route to her second save of the season. … Betzold — who collected her first collegiate pitching win with a 1-0 shutout of Cornell on March 7 — enters SMU's showdown with Carleton owning a 3-2 record and a 1.71 ERA. She has thrown a team-leading 41.0 innings, striking out 26 and walking just 12. … Wirz notched her first collegiate pitching win in a 4-2 victory over UW-River Falls on Feb. 26. … SMU has outscored its opponents 13-6 in the third inning, but have been outscored 16-8 in the first, 13-7 in the second and 17-8 in the fourth. … The Cardinals have held their opponents to two runs or less in four of their six wins. … SMU has outhit its opponent in five of its six wins, but the Cardinals are winless (0-6) 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 Carleton Knights:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
Carleton's 8-1 Game 1 win over Macalester last Sunday snapped the Knights' five-game losing streak. … Two of the Knights' three wins this season have been 8-1 victories. Carleton also beat UW-Superior 8-1 on Feb. 26. … Four of Carleton's five losses during its five-game losing streak were shortened by the eight-run rule. … The Knights have surrendered 10 or more runs five times this season — including a season-high 14 in a 14-0, five-inning loss to 16th-ranked Carthage on March 22. … Micaela LaRose enters Carleton's doubleheader against Saint Mary's as the team's offensive leader, boasting team highs in batting average (.349), doubles (6), triples (1), total bases (23) and slugging percentage (.535). … Carleton boasts six players with 10 or more hits through 17 games, led by LaRose and Jenny Ramey with 15 hits each. … Ramey and Kaelin Davis share the team lead in runs scored with four. … Davis has also driven in a team-best six runs, while Ramey is the team-leader with 11 walks. … Ramey is a perfect 13-for-13 in stolen base attempts this season. She has accounted for 13 of the team's 19 stolen bases this season. … After scoring just 14 runs in its previous 13 games combined, Carleton plated a combined 11 runs in its two games against Macalester last Sunday. … Carleton has been outscored 28-8 after the fifth inning. … The Knights — who are 0-6 when their opponent scores in the first inning and 0-11 when their opponent plates the game's first run — have not won when surrendering more than two runs in a game (0-13).