ROCHESTER, Minn. — After three highly productive offensive performances at the Luther Tournament, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team's bats fell silent against Millikin.
 
The Cardinals, who scored 25 runs in beating the University of Dubuque, UW-River Falls, and Martin Luther in their first three games of the weekend, managed just two hits—and two runs—in falling to the Big Blue 5-2 Saturday afternoon at the Rochester Dome.
 
Unlike their first two games, the Cardinals found themselves playing catch-up against Millikin, surrendering three runs in the first inning and two more in the second.
 
Unfortunately all the offense Saint Mary's would muster came in the third inning, when the Cardinals used a Big Blue error and an Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) single to place two runs.
 
Betzold and Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) were the only Cardinals to manage a hit off Millikin pitcher Cathy Lebrynk, while Birhauser and Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.) scored Saint Mary's two runs.
 
The Cardinals (11-3 overall) are now off until March 30, when they host Luther in a 3 p.m. nonconference doubleheader at the Saint Mary's Field.