By Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team kicks off the home portion of its schedule on Tuesday, hosting UW-La Crosse in a nonconference doubleheader at the Saint Mary's Field. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (5-5 Overall) vs. UW-La Crosse Eagles (7-9 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats * GameDay Program
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—Feb. 26-March 3, 2018 * Clermont, Fla.: The Cardinals are coming off a 5-5 showing in their 10-game spring trip to Clermont, Fla.—including a pair of trip-ending wins over Johnson & Wales (5-4) and Eastern Nazarene (8-6) | Alma Recap * Augustana Recap * Rose-Hulman Recap * Adrian Recap * Johnson & Wales/MSOE Recap * Adrian/Neumann Recap * Johnson & Wales/Eastern Nazarene Recap
• UW-La Crosse—March 18, 2018 * Tucson, Ariz.: The Eagles closed out their spring trip on a winning not, sweeping Gustavus 5-1 and 10-1 in six innings | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-La Crosse—Their Last Meeting:
• March 26, 2017 * La Crosse, Wis.: For the second day in a row, Saint Mary's scored in just two innings of the opening game of its nonconference doubleheader. And for the second day in a row, two innings was enough, as the Cardinals—who used a two-run third and five-run fourth to beat UW-River Falls in Game 1 Saturday—scored a pair of runs in both their first two at-bats in dealing 24^th-ranked UW-La Crosse a 4-1 setback. Unfortunately, Game 2 looked eerily similar as well. UW-La Crosse limited the Cardinals—who did not score until the seventh inning in falling to the Falcons 6-2 in eight innings in Game 2—to just three runs on five hits, while scoring single runs in four of the first five innings in dealing Saint Mary's a 6-3 setback | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back on their home field on Thursday, hosting UW-River Falls in a 2 p.m. nonconference doubleheader at Saint Mary's Field.
• UW-La Crosse: The Eagles are now off until April 7, when they kick off WIAC play with a doubleheader against UW-Eau Claire in La Crosse, Wis.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• After opening the trip with losses to Alma and Augustana, the Cardinals won five of their next eight games to finish 5-5 overall. … 
Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) enjoyed a stellar start to her Saint Mary's career, hitting a team-leading .472, while also leading the team in hits (17), runs (11), stolen bases (2), and on-base percentage (.525). … Gudmundson was one of four Cardinals to collect their first collegiate hit during Saint Mary's spring trip. Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.), Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.), and Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) were the other three. … With her .472 batting average, Gudmundson finished the trip as one of five Cardinals to hit above .300—Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis. / .361), Haley Williams ( / .333), Haley Vanourney (Marion, Iowa / .318), and Nikolich (.314) were the others. … Birkhauser led the team in extra-base hits—three doubles and one home run—while also leading the team in RBIs (9), total bases (19) and slugging percentage (.528). … Schultz was walked a team-high five times through 10 games. … Gudmundson was a perfect 2-for-2 in stolen base attempts, accounting for two of the team's three steals. … Gudmundson closed out the Cardinals' 10-game spring trip collected at least one hit in all 10 contests—including two or more hits six times. … Gudmundson went 3-for-5 and Nikolich collected three hits and drove in three runs—all career-high performances—in the Cardinals' 13-12 win over Adrian on March 1. … Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) posted a pair of three-RBI contests, tops on the team. Birkhauser, Vanourney, and Nikolich have also driven in three runs in a game this season. … Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) collected her first collegiate pitching win and her first collegiate save on Saint Mary's spring trip. The freshman tossed a complete-game, eight-hitter with three strikeouts in the Cardinals' 4-2 win over Johnson & Wales on Feb. 28. Chow also limited Rose-Hulman to just one hit in 2.1 innings of relief to preserve Saint Mary's 3-2 win. … Chow finished with a team-leading 41.1 innings pitched, going 2-5 with a 4.17 ERA with a pair of saves and three complete games. … Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) posted a 3-0 record and 5.03 ERA in 23.2 innings of work. … Chow owns a team-best 15 strikeouts, three more than Trendle. … Saint Mary's 13 runs in beating Adrian 13-12 on March 1 was the highest offensive performance by the Cardinals since the 2015 season, when SMU scored 13 runs twice and a season-high 14 runs in a 14-5 win over Carleton. … Saint Mary's is a perfect 5-0 when leading after six innings, but are 0-5 when tied or trailing heading into the seventh inning. … The Cardinals are 3-1 when scoring first, while going 2-4 when their opponent scores first. … The Cardinals have played two extra inning games this season—beating Adrian 13-12 in eight innings, while falling to Augustana 8-7, also in eight innings.
 
Scouting The UW-La Crosse Eagles:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• After opening the season with three straight losses, and dropping five of their first six, the Eagles have gone 6-4 in their last 10—including back-to-back wins over Gustavus in their last outing. … UW-La Crosse boasts six players who are hitting .300 or better—led by Brittany Baldwin (.444), Sabrina Scardamaglia (.391), Mia Schmidtke (.368), and Grace Mindrup (.341). … Along with her team-leading .444 batting average, Baldwin also leads the Eagles in at-bats (54), runs (18), hits (24), total bases (31), slugging percentage (.574), and on-base percentage (.444). … Scardamaglia, Schmidtke, Mindrup, and Sydney Murphy (.320) all share the team lead with three doubles each, while Baldwin has collected the team's lone triple. … UW-La Crosse has hit eight home runs—four of which have come off the bat of Haley Radewan (.222). … Baldwin boasts a team-high eight multiple-hit games, with Radewan owning the team lead with four multiple-RBI performances. … Caitlyn Hughes and Maddie Muelken have been the workhorses of the Eagles' four-person pitching staff, logging 41.2 and 32.1 innings, respectively. … Hughes (3-5, 4.20 ERA) has made a team-high eight starts, while Muelken (3-1, 2.60 ERA) has made five. … Hughes owns all four of the Eagles' complete games and is the team's strikeout leader with 29. … UW-La Crosse has outscored its first 16 opponents 82-73—including 14-1 in the sixth inning. … The Eagles have scored six or more runs in six of their seven wins—including four games plating 10 or more runs. On the flip side, UW-La Crosse is 0-7 when allowing six runs or more. … UW-La Crosse is 4-2 when scoring the game's first run, and just 3-7 when its opponent scores first.