By Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team closes out its regular-season schedule on Monday, as the Cardinals entertain Saint Benedict in a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games. First pitch at Saint Mary's Field is set for 3:30 p.m.
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (7-13 MIAC, 14-24 Overall) vs. Saint Benedict (15-3 MIAC, 28-6 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats | GameDay Program

Last Action:
• Saint Mary's—April 29, 2018 * Arden Hills, Minn.: The Cardinals erupted for nine runs on 17 hits, their highest offensive output in 24 games—and they needed every one of those nine runs in beating the Royals 9-8 in the first game of the teams' MIAC doubleheader at Ona Orth Athletic Complex in Arden Hills, Minn. The hits—and the runs—continued to pile up in the nightcap. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it was Bethel doing the brunt of the scoring, as the Royals erupted for four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to rally for a 9-6 victory and a split in the teams' conference twinbill | Recap
• Saint Benedict—April 29, 2018 * Northfield, Minn.: The Blazers limited St. Olaf to just two runs—one in each game—as Saint Benedict ran its winning streak to six straight with a 2-1, 5-1 sweep of the Oles | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. Saint Benedict—Their Last Meeting:
• April 2, 2017 * St. Joseph, Minn.: Saint Mary's limited the high-scoring Blazers to a combined 12 runs in the team's conference doubleheader, but the Cardinals could only generate three runs—two in the first game and one in the second—in dropping both ends of the doubleheader to the CSB, 8-2 and 4-1 | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: Monday's doubleheader against Saint Benedict is the regular-season finale for the Cardinals.
• Saint Benedict: The Blazers, who have locked up an MIAC Playoff berth, close out the regular-season portion of their schedule on Tuesday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against St. Catherine.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Cardinals' nine runs in Sunday's 9-8 Game 1 win over Bethel marked their highest offensive performance since plating nine runs against UW-River Falls on March 29—a span of 24 games. … Last Wednesday's 3-1 win over the Gusties put an end to a streak of five straight victories in which the Cardinals had scored four runs. Saint Mary's had beaten St. Olaf (4-0), Macalester (4-1 and 4-2), Augsburg (4-1), and UW-Eau Claire (4-3) before Wednesday's 3-1 victory. … Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) and Shayley Vesel (Austin, Minn.) each posted four-hit games, while Kali Aldrich and Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) both chipped in three hits in the Cardinals' 9-8 Game 1 win over Bethel Sunday. Aldrich added a 2-for-3 showing to pace SMU in Game 2 vs. the Royals. … The four-hit game was Birkhauser's third of the season—having gone 4-for-4 against both UW-River Falls on March 29 and vs. St. Olaf on April 4—while Vesel's four-hit effort was the first of her collegiate career. … Birkhauser enters the Cardinals' DH against Saint Benedict leading the team with a .363 batting average. Birkhauser is one of three Cardinal regulars boasting batting averages above .300—Gudmundson (.333) and Vesel (.314) are the others. … Along with her team-leading batting average, Birkhauser also owns or shares the team lead in hits (45), runs (27), doubles (8), triples (1), home runs (3), RBIs (23), total bases (64), slugging percentage (.516), and on-base percentage (.412). … Birkhauser launched her third home run of the season—a two-run shot in the Cardinals' Game 2 win over St. Olaf on April 4. … All three of Birkhauser's home runs this season have been two-run efforts. Along with her two-run bomb against St. Olaf, the senior also launched two-run round-trippers against Johnson & Wales on March 3 and against UW-River Falls on March 29. … Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill. / .234) became the only player besides Birkhauser to hit a home run this season with her round-tripper against Hamline on April 8. Borawski's second-inning bomb was not only her first of the season, but also the first of her collegiate career. … Borawski is second to Birkhauser in RBIs with 21 and doubles with six. … Gudmundson owns a team-high 129 at-bats, and is second to Birkhauser in hits (43), runs (22) and total bases (43). … Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn. / .277) leads the team with 16 walks. … The Cardinals boast six players—Gudmundson, Schultz, Vesel, Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.), Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.), and Marissa Kleckler (Oregon, Wis.)—who have collected their first collegiate hits this season. … Gudmundson was held hitless in Game 1 against UW-La Crosse on March 27, snapping the freshman's season-opening 10-game hitting streak. … Gudmundson, who equaled her single-game career-high with three hits in the opener vs. UW-River Falls on March 29, leads the team with 13 multiple-hit games—three more than Birkhauser—while Aldrich, Borawski, and Vesel lead the team with six multiple-RBI games. … Chow and Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) each notched their first collegiate shutouts in the Cardinals' sweep of St. Olaf on April 4—Chow tossed a five-hit shutout in Game 1, while Trendle limited the Oles to just two hits in the Game 2 shutout. … Chow 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 (9-11, 3.03 ERA) leads the team with 131.2 innings pitched, with Trendle (5-11, 4.85 ERA) close behind with 101.0 IP. … Signey Stoesz (Mountain Lake, Minn. / 0-2, 3.18 ERA) has chipped in 22.0 innings in the pitcher's circle. … Chow has recorded 13 of the staff's 18 complete games—including seven of her last eight starts—and also owns both Cardinal saves. … 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 nine runs in its 10-9 Game 1 loss to UW-River Falls on March 29 were the most runs scored in a loss since falling to Hamline 10-9 on April 23, 2016. … Saint Mary's is 12-1 when leading after six innings, but are just 2-18 when tied or trailing heading into the seventh inning. … The Cardinals are 11-9 when scoring first, while going 3-15 when their opponent scores first. … Saint Mary's is 10-10 in games decided by two runs or less—including 6-6 in one-run games. … With their 4-3 Game 1 loss to Augsburg on April 21, the Cardinals have now played four extra-inning games this season—beating Adrian 13-12 in eight innings, while falling to Augustana 8-7, also in eight innings, and losing to No. 5 Luther (3-2) and Augsburg (4-3) in nine innings. … The Cardinals' 1-0, 4-0 sweep of the St. Olaf on April 4 marked the first time since 2016 that SMU has posted back-to-back shutouts—Saint Mary's blanked Wartburg (9-0) and John Carroll (8-0) on Feb. 28, 2016. It was also the first time the Cardinals have blanked an MIAC opponent in both games of a doubleheader since shutting out Concordia (4-0, 1-0) on April 26, 2014.
 
Scouting The Saint Benedict Blazers:
2018 Roster | 2018 Schedule | 2018 Statistics
• The Blazers head into Monday's doubleheader against Saint Mary's having won six straight and nine of their last 16. … Monday's games against Saint Mary's are the fifth and sixth of eight consecutive road games for the Blazers. … With their sweep of St. Olaf Saturday, the Blazers improved to 28-6 overall—marking the most wins in a season since 2014, when the went 28-11. Prior to 2014, Saint Benedict had not reached more than 20 wins since 2004, when it went 29-7. … The Blazers are hitting .323 as a team and boast eight players who are hitting above .300—led by Megan Toninato (.448), Emille Antony (.374), and Alex Smith (.370). … Along with her team-leading .448 batting average, Toninato also leads the Blazers in hits (52), triples (5), total bases (69), and slugging percentage (.595). … Kate Deming (.350) is the team leader in both at-bats (117) and runs (46), and shares the team lead in doubles (10) with Antony. … Antony has amassed a team-best 30 RBIs and is one of four Blazers with 20 or more RBIs this season. … Saint Benedict has belted 20 home runs this season, led by Kendra Swanson (.344) with four and Sara Wennerstrand (.299) and Claire Boatman (.235) with three each. … Toninato has delivered a team-high 16 multiple-hit games, and Antony boasts nine multiple-RBI performances. … Deming put together a team-best 15-game hitting streak earlier this season. Antony currently owns the longest active streak at eight games. … Toninato has reached base safely in each of the team's last 17 games, with Swanson right on her heels, having reached safely in each of the last 15 contests. … The Blazers have used six different pitchers this season. Ally Hjort (10-2, 0.76 ERA) has tossed a team-high 82.2 innings, followed by Smith (2-1, 2.29 ERA, 39.2 IP), Cassie Meyer (6-0, 2.70 ERA, 36.1 IP), Jocelyn Metz (6-1, 3.06 ERA, 34.1 IP), and Kiela DeVlaeminck (4-2, 3.312 ERA, 31.2 IP).  Hjort has made a team-high 17 pitching appearances, including nine starts, one more start than Metz and two more than Meyer and DeVlaeminck. … Hjort has also accounted for eight of the team's 11 complete games and owns a team-best 78 strikeouts. … Saint Benedict has scored 10 or more runs five times this season—including a season-high 21-run showing in routing Crown 21-1 in five innings on Feb. 17. … The Blazers have played four teams ranked in the NFCA Top 25—beating No. 21 Central-Iowa (5-4) and No. 5 Trine (10-4), while losing to No. 11 St. John Fischer (6-5) and No. 14 St. Thomas (6-3 and 6-5).