WINONA, Minn. — It took 27 days for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Bethel fastpitch softball teams to return to the field to resume the second game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.
And it took all of 17 minutes for the Cardinals to complete the sweep.
Saint Mary's scored an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth inning to break a 3-3 tie and carry the Cardinals to the 4-3 victory Tuesday.
The Cardinals picked up their first conference win of the season in their opening game against Bethel at the Saint Mary's Field on April 5—posting a 6-4 victory—and pulled even with the Royals 3-3 with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning in the nightcap.
After a scoreless seventh, however, darkness made it impossible for play to continue and forced the game to be suspended—deadlocked at 3-3 heading into extra innings.
Twenty-seven days later, the two teams finally returned to Saint Mary's Field to finish what they had started.
Bethel threatened in the top of the eighth, drawing back-to-back two-out walks, but
Ashley Betzold—on in relief of starter
Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) got Mariah Uphof to strike out and keep the game deadlocked at 3-3.
After Betzold set the Royals down in order in the top of the ninth, the Cardinals put the game away, as Betzold reached on an error and moved to second on a wild pitch.
Jordyn Keprios (Farmington, Minn.) reached on an infield single, and when second baseman Alexa Hanowski's throw trying to get Betzold at third sailed over the head of third baseman Wendy Roberts, the Cardinal senior trotted home with the game-winning run.
Bethel jumped out on top with a single run in the top of the first in Game 2, but Saint Mary's quickly knotted things up with a solo run in the bottom of the second. The Royals regained the lead with a pair of runs in the third, and the Cardinals answered with a single run in their half of the frame to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Saint Mary's pulled even—thanks to some stellar base running by pinch-runner
Maria Averbeck (Lewiston, Minn.), who scored from second on a single by Keprios, diving over BU catcher Megan Bode to touch the plate with the game-tying run.
Neither team would score in the seventh, forcing the Game 2 suspension.
Keprios was the only Cardinal with two hits in the nightcap, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
The Cardinals erupted for four runs in the first two innings against the Royals in the opening game of their conference twinbill.
Saint Mary's plated three runs in their first at-bat—one on a Bethel error, the second on an RBI groundout by
Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.), and the third on a run-scoring single by Keprios.
A sacrifice fly by
Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) pushed the Cardinals' lead to 4-0, but Bethel put together a three-run inning of its own in the fifth to whittle the Saint Mary's lead to one, 4-3.
Saint Mary's took advantage of a Bethel error to plate two more runs in the sixth, and held off a seventh-inning Royal rally for the two-run victory.
Trendle picked up her first collegiate win—via her first collegiate complete game—scattering seven hits and just one earned run, while Birkhauser sparked Saint Mary's 10-hit attack, going 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored.
With the win, the Cardinals close out the season with a 13-25 overall record, including a 7-15 mark in conference play.
