ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team returned home from its 10-game spring trip to Clermont, Fla., boasting eight wins—including three by shutout and five that were decided by the eight-run rule.
 
And the Cardinals added to both totals against the University of Dubuque Friday evening in the Luther Tournament at the Rochester Dome.
 
Saint Mary's erupted for three runs in the fourth and four more in the sixth—and Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) limited the Spartans to just three hits—as the Cardinals collected an 8-0, six-inning victory.
 
The Cardinals scored single runs in the second and third innings against the University of Dubuque—the first on a Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) infield single and the second on a Spartan error.
 
Betzold helped her own cause with a two-run double in the Cardinals' three-run fourth, while Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) drove in the other run, giving Saint Mary's a commanding 5-0 advantage.
 
But the Cardinals' offense was just getting warmed up.
 
Saint Mary's would parlay three hits into four runs—highlighted by a game-ending, three-run single by Birkhauser.
 
Birkhauser fueled the Cardinals' 15-hit attack vs. Dubuque, going 4-for-5, while Stanzy Snyder (Johnston, Iowa), Betzold, Borawski, Tessa Kuschke (Grant, Minn.), and Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.) all added two hits. Betzold picked up her sixth pitching win of the season, scattering just three hits—all singles—while walking two and striking out one.
 
The Cardinals played UW-River Falls late Friday evening, and will square off against Martin Luther and Millikin during the second day of the two-day tournament on Saturday.