By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
CLERMONT, Fla. — For the second time in as many games Sunday, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team was in dire need of some late-inning heroics in the Cardinals' nonconference game against Augustana (Ill.).
 
Just hours after scoring four times in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally for a 7-7 tie, before falling 8-7 in eight innings to Alma in their season-opener, the Cardinals were again staring at a large deficit late against the Vikings.
 
This time around however, the Cardinals could only manage a single, seventh-inning run in falling to Augustana 5-1.
 
The Vikings opened the scoring with a single run in the bottom of the second, and followed that up with a pair of two-run innings in their next to at-bats to push their lead to 5-0.
 
The Cardinals, who threatened in the second—putting runners on second and third with one out, but came up empty—finally broke through in the seventh.
 
Jordyn Keprios (Farmington, Minn.) opened the inning with a walk, moved to second on a one-out Augustana error, and scored on an RBI single by Haley Williams (Littleton, Colo.). Saint Mary's would load the bases with one out, but Vikings' pitcher Kelcie Frederickson induced Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.) to fly out to left for the second out and Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.) was gunned down at the plate trying to score from third on the play for the third and final out.
 
Saint Mary's four hits off Frederickson came from four different players—Nikolich, Williams, Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.), and Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.), while Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) suffered the pitching loss, allowed five runs—three earned—on four hits in the complete-game effort.
 
The Cardinals (0-2 overall) are back in action on Monday, squaring off against Rose-Hulman (9 a.m. EST) and Adrian (2 p.m.  EST).