Box Score 1 | Box Score 2  | GameDay Preview

ROSEMOUNT, Minn. — Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) was good in leading the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team to back-to-back wins over Concordia on Saturday.
 
And the freshman was even better on Sunday.
 
Betzold, coming off back-to-back shutout performances in which she allowed just five hits and struck out 16 in leading Saint Mary's to 4-0 and 1-0 victories over Concordia, tossed her second straight two-hitter — and her third straight shutout — in guiding the Cardinals to a 6-0 Game 1 victory over Macalester in the first game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at the Rosemount Dome.
 
The Scots put an end to Betzold's 38-inning scoreless streak with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth in the nightcap, but it was not enough as Betzold & Co. completed the sweep with a 3-2 victory in Game 2.
 
Betzold personally gave the Cardinals all the runs they would need in the first inning, driving in the game's first run with a two-out single. Emily Nelson (Maplewood, Minn.) drove in two more runs with a single of her own to give Saint Mary's a 3-0 cushion.
 
Saint Mary's added a solo run in the third and two more in the sixth to seal the win.
 
Betzold limited the Scots to just two hits — a fourth-inning single and a sixth-inning double — while equaling her career high for strike outs for the second time in two days with 10. Offensively, Betzold was one of four Cardinals — along with Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.), Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.) and Toni Hunsinger (Farmington, Minn.) — to record two hits for the Cardinals.
 
The Cardinals again scored in their first at-bat in the nightcap — and again it was Betzold delivering the RBI single.
 
Macalester finally got to the hard-throwing right-hander, ending her scoreless inning streak with two runs in the fifth to take a 2-1 advantage.
 
Unfortunately for the Scots, all that did was make Betzold mad, as the freshman belted a two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to put Saint Mary's back on top to stay, 3-2.
 
Betzold picked up win No. 9 in Game 2, allowing two runs — only one of which was earned — on seven hits, while striking out four. And at the plate, she added a 3-for-3, 3-RBI effort to pace the Cardinals' eight-hit attack.
 
Saint Mary's (10-10 MIAC, 14-20 overall) are back in action on Monday, traveling to the West St. Paul (Minn.) Dome for a 3:30 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against nationally ranked and league-leading St. Thomas.