By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
CLERMONT, Fla. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team had its offense in high gear in its first of two games Thursday—erupting for 13 runs in its nonconference game against Adrian.
 
And the Cardinals needed every one of those runs to dispatch of the Bulldogs—getting a two-run single from Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.) in the bottom of the eighth inning en route to a 13-12 victory.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinals could have used a few of those runs in their second game, as Neumann held Saint Mary's to just two runs—one in the first and one in the seventh—in dealing SMU a 7-2 setback.
 
Saint Mary's spotted Adrian a 6-0 advantage—giving up two runs in the top of the second and four more in the third.
 
Three outs later, however, it was all knotted up, as the Cardinals erupted for six runs in their half of the third to make it 6-6.
 
The Cardinals sent 11 batters to the plate in the third, stringing together five consecutive hits—including back-to-back doubles by Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.) and Haley Vanourney (Marion, Iowa—to start things off. Aldrich added her second double of the inning—a two-out, two-run shot—to cap Saint Mary's six-run outburst.
 
And the offensive fireworks were just beginning.
 
Adrian scored twice in the top of the fifth, only to have Saint Mary's answered with three runs in its fifth-inning at-bat—highlighted by an RBI single from Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) and a two-run double off the bat of Vanourney—to take a 9-8 lead.
 
The Bulldogs pulled even at 9-9 in the sixth, and again the Cardinals answered, scoring twice in the bottom of the inning—thanks to a two-run single by Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.)—to regain the advantage 11-9.
 
Adrian would rattle off three unanswered runs, two in the top of the seventh to tie the game, 11-11, and another in the top of the eighth to grab a 12-11 lead.
 
And set up Nikolich's eighth-inning heroics, as the freshman delivered a two-run, two-run single to score Haley Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) with the tying run and Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) with the winning run.
 
Gudmundson and Nikolich each had three-hit games against the Bulldogs, while Birkhauser, Aldrich, and Vanourney all delivered two hits. Nikolich, Borawski, and Vanourney delivered three RBIs apiece, and Gudmundson scored a team-high three times.
 
The Cardinals picked up right where they left off to open their second game of the day, scoring a solo run in their first at-bat—thanks to an RBI single by Nikolich.
 
That, however, would be the extent of the Saint Mary's offense—until Borawski delivered a run-scoring double in the top of the seventh.
 
Neumann, meanwhile, answered Saint Mary's first-inning run with a run of its own, before adding another run in the third, three more in the fifth and two in the sixth.
 
Gudmundson finished 2-for-4 against Neumann, with Borawski, Nikolich and Birkhauser collecting Saint Mary's other three hits against the Knights.
 
The Cardinals (3-5 overall) close out their 10-game spring trip on Saturday, squaring off against Mitchell (9 a.m. EST) and Johnson & Wales (11:30 a.m. EST) in Clermont, Fla.