ROCHESTER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team's high-octane offense continued to keep the pedal to the metal during their second game of the Luther Tournament late Friday night.
 
Just hours after rolling to an 8-0 victory over the University of Dubuque, the Cardinals were at it again, scoring a combined 11 runs in the first two innings in cruising to an 11-6 nonconference win over UW-River Falls.
 
Saint Mary's collected four hits—and took advantage of a Falcon error—in scoring six times in the first inning. Tessa Kuschke (Grant, Minn.) delivered a two-run single, while Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.), Toni Hunsinger (Farmington, Minn.), Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.), and Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) also drove in runs.
 
The Cardinals nearly equaled their first-inning offensive output in their second at-bat, scoring five more runs—two on a Kuschke double, and two more on RBI singles by Harper and Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.)—to grab an 11-0 advantage.
 
The Falcons cut into the Cardinal lead with a single run in the third, three in the fourth and two more in the sixth, but it was not nearly enough.
 
Kuschke finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs to pace the Cardinals' 12-hit attack, while Harper and Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) each chipped in two hits. Betzold collected her second pitching win of the evening, going 5.2 innings, allowing two runs—neither earned—on three hits.
 
The Cardinals (10-2 overall) are back in action on Saturday, squaring off against Martin Luther (10 a.m.) and Millikin (noon) during the second day of the Luther Tournament at the Rochester Dome.