Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | GameDay Preview

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. — After giving up a pair of first-inning runs in both of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games to Saint Benedict on Sunday, Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball coach Jen Miller knew the importance of getting off to a quick start against Bethel on Monday.
 
And quick start there was … for Bethel.
 
The Royals erupted for three runs in the first inning — and added five more in the third — before holding off a seventh-inning SMU rally in handing the Cardinals an 8-5 setback in Game 1 of their conference doubleheader at Ona Orth Athletic Complex.
 
And the Royals were at it again in Game 2, as BU scored five times in its first at-bat and never looked back, completing the sweep with a 7-0 victory.
 
After spotting the Royals their 8-0 advantage in Game 1, the Cardinals began clawing back, scoring twice in the fourth on RBI singles by Toni Hunsinger (Farmington, Minn.) and Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.), before erupting for three runs in the top of the seventh.
 
Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) accounted for two of SMU's three seventh-inning runs with her third hit in four at-bats — a two-run single to center — but the Royals worked out of the jam with a game-ending double play.
 
Along with Betzold's 3-for-4 Game 1 performance, SMU also got two hits each from Thelen and Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) to highlight the Cardinal's 12-hit offensive attack in the opener.
 
Unfortunately, their would be no 12-hit attack — or five runs, for that matter — as Bethel put the game out of reach early, scoring five times in the first inning, before adding single runs in the fourth and sixth innings to complete the sweep.
 
Thelen added her second straight two-hit performance in the nightcap, while Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn.) also chipped in a pair of hits as the duo accounted for half of SMU's eight Game 2 hits.
 
The Cardinals (6-8 MIAC, 10-14 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, as SMU heads to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3:30 conference doubleheader against Hamline at Meredith Field.