NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The temperatures gave the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team some much-needed warmth Thursday afternoon.
After playing the majority of their games of late in temperatures barely out of the 30s, Mother Nature gave the Cardinals some much more favorable 70-degree temperatures Thursday afternoon.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals' bats remained in hibernation for the first 10 innings of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Olaf.
After being held scoreless in all seven innings of a 1-0 Game 1 loss—and for the first three innings of Game 2—the Cardinals' offense finally showed signs of life, as Saint Mary's put together a pair of back-to-back two-run innings in the fourth and fifth to beat St. Olaf 4-2 and earn a conference split.
Saint Mary's pitcher
Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) and St. Olaf hurler Alex Lopez were locked in a classic pitcher's duel in the opener, as the two traded scoreless innings through the first five frame.
The Oles finally broke through with what proved to be the only run of the game in the sixth, as Jenna Boudreau led off with a double and scored on a double by Steph Borndale.
Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) collected two of the Cardinals' four hits in the opener, while Betzold and
Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) accounted for Saint Mary's other two hits off Lopez. Betzold suffered the pitching loss, allowing just the one run on nine hits, while striking out four and not walking a batter.
It was more of the same for the Cardinals' offense in the nightcap—until the fourth inning, that is.
Locked in another scoreless battle, the Cardinals scored a pair of runs in the fourth inning—on a sacrifice fly by
Toni Hunsinger (Farmington, Minn.) and an RBI single by
Stanzy Snyder (Johnston, Iowa)—to grab a 2-0 lead.
An inning later, Saint Mary's was at it again, scoring two more runs on a Borawski RBI groundout and a run-scoring single by
Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.) to push the Cardinal lead to 4-0.
St. Olaf cut that lead in half with a pair of runs in the sixth, but that was as close as they would get, as Betzold set the Oles down in order in the seventh to notch the victory.
Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) went 3-for-4 to pace the Cardinals' 11-hit Game 2 attack, while Snyder,
Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.), and
Tessa Kuschke (Grant, Minn.) all chipped in two hits.
Betzold tossed her second complete game of the afternoon in the nightcap, limiting St. Olaf to two runs on five hits.
The Cardinals are back on the road to kick off another busy conference weekend on Saturday, traveling to St. Peter, Minn., for a 1 p.m. doubleheader against Gustavus. Saint Mary's will then return home on Sunday, hosting Macalester in a 1 p.m. MIAC twinbill.
