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CLERMONT, Fla. — It wasn't getting runners on base that hampered the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team — it was getting those runners across that plate that proved rather difficult.

The Cardinals stranded 31 base runners in two games Tuesday, as SMU dropped a 9-5 nonconference decision to Finlandia, before falling to Ohio Northern 10-7 later in the afternoon.

"I thought we did a much better job at the plate — we swung the bats very well," said SMU coach Jen Miller. "The problem was, once we got runners on base, we couldn't come up with the big hit to drive them in."

The Cardinals scored four of their five runs against Finlandia in the first three innings, as Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) delivered a run-scoring single in the first, Kristin Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) and Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.) added RBIs in the second and Toni Hunsinger (Farmington, Minn.) added a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the third.

The Lions, however, did SMU one better, scoring three times in the first and twice more in the second and entered the bottom of the fourth with a 5-4 advantage.

Finlandia scored twice in the fourth, and, after SMU scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth, added single runs in the fifth and sixth to seal the win.

Harper and Opsahl each went 3-for-5 with an RBI to pace SMU's 12-hit attack, while Thelen had two hits and drove in a run.

It was more of the same in the Cardinals' second game of the day, as SMU — coming off stranding 15 runners against Finlandia — left 16 runners on base against Ohio Northern.

Ohio Northern jumped out to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third, but SMU answered with a five-run third — highlighted by a two-run, pinch-hit home run by Katie Krull (Rochester, Minn.) — to give the Cardinals a 5-2 advantage.

The lead, however, was short-lived, as Ohio Northern posted back-to-back four-run innings in the fourth and fifth to push its lead to 10-5. The Cardinals got a two-run single from Sam Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) with one out in the seventh, but that was as close as SMU would get.

Thelen continued to swing a hot bat, going 3-for-5, while Borawski and Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) also added 3-for-5 efforts, with Borawski chipping in three RBIs. Jasmine Erickson (Jackson, Minn.) finished 3-for-4, while Harper, Opsahl and Hunsinger each chipped in two hits.

The Cardinals are now off until Thursday, when they square off against DeSales University (11 a.m. EST) and 24th-ranked Coe (1 p.m. EST).