MOORHEAD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team is back in action Saturday, as the Cardinals head to Concordia for a noon Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against the Cobbers.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (6-10 MIAC | 10-16 Overall) at Concordia Cobbers (1-13 MIAC | 6-25 Overall)
 
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Last Action:
The Cardinals dropped a pair of conference games to Hamline on Tuesday, falling 5-3 in the opener and 2-0 in the nightcap at Meredith Field in St. Paul, Minn. … Concordia heads into Saturday's games against Saint Mary's having dropped a pair of five-inning conference games to Gustavus, falling 10-1 and 21-2 Friday in Fargo, N.D.
 
SMU vs. Concordia — A Year Ago:
April 17, 2013: For the second time in the last four days, Mother Nature forced SMU to play its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader inside — and the Cardinals responded with their second straight conference sweep. After cruising to 7-5 and 11-4 wins over Saint Benedict in the Rochester (Minn.) Dome on Sunday, the Cardinals were back inside, this time in the Vadnais Heights (Minn.) Dome, where they picked up another two MIAC wins, beating Concordia 9-4 and 8-6.
 
Up Next:
The Cardinals are right back on the diamond on Sunday, as SMU hosts Macalester in a 1 p.m. Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader. … Concordia is also back on the field on Sunday, as the Cobbers host Hamline in a 1 p.m. conference twinbill in Moorhead, Minn.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
The Cardinals' showdown with Concordia is the third of five conference doubleheaders in an eight-day span. Following their twinbill against the Cobbers, SMU will square off against Macalester on Sunday and nationally ranked and league-leading St. Thomas on Monday. … With their 5-3 and 2-0 losses to Hamline Tuesday, the Cardinals have now played eight MIAC doubleheaders this season — and all eight have been sweeps. SMU has swept St. Olaf, Augsburg and St. Catherine, and have been swept by Gustavus, Carleton, Saint Benedict, Bethel and Hamline. … The Cardinals have surrendered 17 first-inning runs in their last six games. … Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) was the Cardinals' workhorse in SMU's two games against Hamline Tuesday, throwing 12 consecutive innings — the first six in relief — allowing just two runs on 10 hits. … Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) went 2-for-2 with a pair of RBIs in SMU's Game 1 loss to Hamline, while the Cardinals' four Game 2 hits came from four different players. … Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.) collected a hit in both games vs. Hamline Tuesday, extending her hitting streak to a season- and career-high 13 straight. … Micaela Meredith (Bloomington, Minn.) has gone 5-for-7 with two walks in SMU's last three Game 2s. … Thelen heads into SMU's doubleheader against St. Thomas owning a team-best .400 batting average, just percentage points ahead of Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill. / .395). … Thelen also leads the team in at-bats (90), runs (23) and hits (36), while sharing the team lead in total bases (43) with Raske. … Raske is the team-leader in doubles (8), slugging percentage (.531), walks (13) and on-base percentage (.479). … Opsahl boasts a team-best 20 RBIs, one more than Raske. … Raske, Opsahl and Katie Krull (Rochester, Minn.) have accounted for SMU's three home runs this season. The round-trippers with collegiate firsts for Opsahl and Krull. … Thelen scored a career-best four runs in the second game against St. Olaf on March 30. … Thelen has compiled a team-high 11 multiple-hit games, while Opsahl has recorded team-leading five multiple-RBI games. … Thelen owns SMU's only four-hit game of the season, collecting four hits in Game 2 vs. St. Olaf on March 30. The four hits were a single-game career-high. … Opsahl drove in a career-high five RBIs in the Cardinals' 10-2 Game 2 win over Augsburg on April 9. … Opsahl's five RBIs vs. Augsburg marked the second time this season SMU has boasted a player with five RBIs in a game — Raske drove in a career-high five runs in SMU's Game 2 win over the Oles on March 30. … Betzold tossed her team-leading 10th complete game against Hamline Tuesday. … Betzold fanned a career-high 10 batters in beating Augsburg 8-1 in Game 1 on April 9. … Betzold — who collected her first collegiate pitching win with a 1-0 shutout of Cornell on March 7 — enters SMU's showdown with Concordia owning a 5-6 record and a 2.09 ERA. She has thrown a team-leading 97 1/3 innings, striking out 53 and walking just 27. … Jess Wirz (Eau Claire, Wis.) — who tossed a five-inning, two-hit shutout against St. Catherine on April 18 — notched her first collegiate pitching win in a 4-2 victory over UW-River Falls on Feb. 26. … The Cardinals have held their opponents to two runs or less in eight of their 10 wins. … SMU has outhit its opponent in eight of its 10 wins, but the Cardinals are just 1-11 when their opponent boasts more hits. … SMU is unbeaten (7-0) when leading after four innings. … SMU's 8-0 victory over St. Catherine on April 18 was its third shutout win of the season — the Cardinals blanked St. Olaf 3-0 on March 30 and Cornell (Iowa) 1-0 on March 7. … The Cardinals have, or will still, square off against three teams that are ranked in the NFCA Preseason Poll this season — No. 10 Luther, No. 14 Lebanon Valley and No. 19 St. Thomas.
 
Scouting The Concordia Cobbers:
2014 Roster | 2014 Statistics | 2014 Schedule
Saturday's doubleheader against Saint Mary's is the second of three straight home conference twinbills — in a three-day span — for the Cobbers, who faced Gustavus on Friday and will host Hamline on Sunday. … Concordia's losses to Gustavus Friday pushed its losing streak to eight straight. … The Cobbers have also dropped 13 of its last 14. … Concordia has surrendered 10 or more runs nine times this season, including a season-high 25 in a 25-1, five-inning loss to St. Thomas on April 2. … Paige Beseman enters Saturday's games against Saint Mary's as the Cobbers' offensive leader, owning a team-best .366 batting average, while also leading the team in hits (26), doubles (6), RBIs (10), total bases (38), slugging percentage (.535) and on-base percentage (.434). … Madison Little, second to Beseman with a .276 batting average, leads CC in at-bats (87) and runs (14). … Concordia has belted seven home runs, including three by Ashley Tibbetts and two off the bat of Beseman. … Mackenzie Jensen has accounted for eight of the Cobbers' 15 stolen bases. … Little boasts a team-best seven multiple-hit games, while Beseman, Jenna Esala and Dominique Giesen share the team lead with three multiple-RBI games each. … Hillary Rotunda has logged a team-high 100 1/3 innings in the pitcher's circle, compiling a 2-13 record and a 6.01 ERA. … Rotunda has posted 14 complete games, boasts the team's lone save, and has struck out a team-high 65 batters. … JoAnna Carlson has been the winning pitcher in four of CC's six wins, owning a 4-10 record and a 9.18 ERA. … Concordia has surrendered 40 or more runs in four of the nine innings they've played — 47 in the first, 47 in the second and fourth and 48 in the fifth. … CC has been outscored 257-80. … The Cobbers are 4-0 when leading after the sixth inning, but 0-11 when trailing heading into the seventh. … The Cobbers have been shut out nine times this season. … Concordia has been held to two runs or less in 21 of its 31 games. … Concordia's opponent has scored the game's first run in 25 of its 31 games.