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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Less than 24 hours after holding St. Catherine to just one run in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team was back on the diamond on Saturday against Saint Benedict
 
The Cardinals' defense, however, wasn't as air-tight against the Blazers, as CSB scored nine runs — including seven in Game 2 — in handing SMU a pair of setbacks, 2-1 and 7-5 at Augsburg's Edor Nelson Field.
 
The Blazers scored all the runs they would need in their first at-bat in the opener, as CSB got an RBI double from Stacy Sivhel and a run-scoring groundout by Kelsey McQuillan off SMU starter Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.)
 
Betzold limited the Blazers to just two hits over the final six innings in suffering the pitching loss. The freshman right-hander did not allow another Blazer hit until the seventh, when Saint Benedict laced a pair of two-out singles before Betzold got Lidstone to pop out to short to end the threat.
 
Unfortunately, CSB pitcher was equally as impressive, scattering eight hits — all singles — while allowing the Cardinals just one run.
 
The Cardinals plated their only run in the third, as Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) opened the inning with a walk, moved to second on a single by Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.), and, after an Alex Raske (Chicago, lll.) groundout, scoring on an RBI single by Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.).
 
That, however, would be all the offense the Cardinals would muster, as CSB snapped SMU's four-game winning streak.
 
Harper and Alexi Diteman (Burnsville, Minn.) each collected a pair of Game 1 hits to account for half of SMU's eight hits, while Thelen, Raske, Opsahl and Emily Nelson (Maplewood, Minn.) had the Cardinals other four singles.
 
For the second game in a row, Saint Benedict scored twice in its first at-bat in the nightcap, and for the second game in a row, SMU cut that gap to one, 2-1, as Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn.) delivered a run-scoring single in the bottom of the second.
 
Unlike the first game, however, both teams' offenses were just getting warmed up.
 
CSB erupted for five runs in the fifth to grab and 7-1 advantage, but the Cardinals came storming back with four runs in their final at-bat — only to leave the tying run on second.
 
Meredith went 3-for-3 in the nightcap, while Thelen chipped in two hits — both doubles — in four at-bats — and Harper added her second two-hit game of the afternoon.
 
The Cardinals (6-6 MIAC, 10-12 overall) are back in conference play on Monday, traveling to Ona Orth Athletic Complex in Arden Hills, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against Bethel.