ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team kicks off its 2015 season on Saturday, traveling to the Rochester Dome for a pair of nonconference games against Wartburg. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2014: 14-18 Overall) vs. Wartburg Knights (2014: 17-19 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Video Preview | GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Today's nonconference doubleheader is the season opener for both the Cardinals and the Knights
 
Saint Mary's vs. Wartburg—Their Last Meeting:
• March 27, 2004: The Cardinals and Knights have not faced each other for 10 years, when the teams battled to a nonconference split. Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.) belted a three-home home run in Saint Mary's 4-3 Game 1 loss, while Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) delivered a one-out single to score Amy Langer (Savage, Minn.) with the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Cardinals earned the split with previously unbeaten Wartburg, 2-1 | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back in action on March 1, when they square off against Trine University and Saint Vincent College to kick off Saint Mary's 10-game spring trip in Clermont, Fla.
• Wartburg: The Knights kick off their spring trip on March 2, squaring off against York College and Clark College in Fort Myers, Fla.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2015 Roster | 2015 Schedule | 2015 Statistics
Crazy spring weather a year ago meant that the Cardinals played just two conference doubleheaders—at Augsburg and at Concordia—on the original date they were scheduled. … Saint Mary's played 11 MIAC twinbills last season—with all 12 resulting in sweeps. The Cardinals swept St. Olaf, Augsburg, St. Catherine, Concordia and Macalester, and were swept by Gustavus, Carleton, Saint Benedict, Bethel and Hamline. … Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) closed out the season with a team-leading .381 batting average. She was one of seven Cardinal regulars to hit .300 or better. … Raske also led or shared the team lead in runs (24), hits (37), doubles (9), triples (1), total bases (51), slugging percentage (.526), walks (15) and on-base percentage (.469). … Raske has started every game in her three-year collegiate career—a span of 104 consecutive starts. … Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn.)—the lone senior on last year's team—finished second to Raske with a career-best .359 batting average, while share the team lead in at-bats (103), runs (24) and hits (37). … Thelen put together a team- and career-high 14-game hitting streak this season. … Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) boasted a team-best 24 RBIs, four more than Raske. … Raske, Opsahl and Katie Krull (Rochester, Minn.) accounted for Saint Mary'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 compiled a team-high 11 multiple-hit games, while Opsahl recorded team-leading six multiple-RBI games. … Thelen owned Saint Mary'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 runs in the Cardinals' 10-2 Game 2 win over Augsburg on April 9. … Opsahl's five RBIs vs. Augsburg marked the second time Saint Mary's 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. … Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) was the workhorse in the pitcher's circle, compiling a 9-8 record and a 2.57 ERA in a team-leading 133 1/3 innings pitched. … Betzold also led the team in appearances (25), complete games (14), shutouts (5), saves (2) and strikeouts (91). … Betzold put together a late-season streak of 26 consecutive scoreless innings. … Betzold struck out a career-high 10 batters three times last season—vs. Augsburg on April 9, and against Concordia on April 26, and Macalester on April 27. … Betzold collected her first collegiate pitching win with a 1-0 shutout of Cornell on March 7. … Jess Wirz (Eau Claire, Wis.) also earned her first collegiate pitching win last season, notching a 4-2 victory over UW-River Falls on Feb. 26. … The Cardinals held their opponents to two runs or less in 12 of their 13 wins. … Saint Mary's outhit its opponent in 12 of its 14 wins and was unbeaten (10-0) when leading after four innings.
 
Scouting The Wartburg Knights:
2015 Roster | 2015 Schedule | 2014 Final Statistics
The Knights are coming off a 17-19 season a year ago—including a 1-13 showing in the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. … Ten of the Knights' 19 wins came during their season-high 10-game winning streak—Wartburg went undefeated from March 10 until the Knights were handed two losses on March 29 at the Augustana Tournament. …  Taylor Smola led the team in doubles (10), home runs (4), RBIs (31), and slugging percentage (.556) during her freshman campaign a year ago. … Courtney Belk boasted the team's highest batting average (.375), while also scoring a team-best 24 runs. … Smola (.368) and Britt Schoon (.352)—two of six Wartburg players to start all 36 games last season—also hit above .350 a year ago. … Katie Wyman delivered Wartburg's lone triple last season, while Smola (4), Schoon (2), Micaela Forsyth (2), Belk (1), Savannah Warburto (1), and Courtney Wiken (1) accounted for the Knights' 11 home runs. … Belk collected a team-best 13 multiple-hit games—one more than Smola—while Smola owned 10 of the team's 27 multiple-RBI performances. … Belk put together a team- and season-high 22-game hitting streak and reached base safely in 24 consecutive games. … Paige Blom was the workhorse in the pitching circle for the Knights, going 7-6 with a 2.93 ERA. … Blom, who tossed a team-high 83.2 innings, struck out a team-leading 53 batters. … Blom tossed a team-best eight complete games in 13 stars and owned Wartburg's lone save. … Wartburg was held to two runs or less in 10 of tis 19 losses. On the flip side, the Knights were 11-1 when limiting their opponent to less than three runs. … Wartburg finished 2014 10-1 when leading after the sixth inning, while going 2-11 when trailing heading into the seventh inning. … Wartburg played just six of its 36 games on its home field.