By Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Less than 24 hours after posting back-to-back shutouts in a 1-0, 4-0 sweep of St. Olaf in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener Wednesday, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team was involved in another shutout in Game 1 against Luther.
 
This time around, however, the Cardinals found themselves on the wrong end of the shutout spectrum, as the fifth-ranked Norse scored at least one run in every inning in dealing Saint Mary's a 9-0, five-inning setback at the RCTC Dome.
 
The Cardinals limited the high-powered Norse to just a single run for eight innings in the nightcap, but a two-run ninth—including a walk-off single by Blake Banowetz—lifted Luther to a 3-2, come-from-behind victory.
 
Luther, which pushed its winning streak to 17 straight with the sweep, did not waste any time getting its offense cranked up in Game 1, scoring single runs in the first and second innings, before adding two in the third, three in the fourth and two more in the fifth en route to the five-inning win.
 
Norse pitcher Samantha Bratland limited the Cardinals to just two hits—two-out, first-inning singles by Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.) and Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.). Bratland, who set down the final 13 batters she faced following Birkhauser's first-inning single, did not walk a batter and struck out six.
 
The Cardinals put an end to their seven-inning scoreless drought—and knotted the game at 1-1—in the bottom of the third inning of Game 2, getting an RBI single from Birkhauser to score Haley Williams (Littleton, Colo.) who opened the inning with a walk.
 
Luther had chance to break the deadlock in the bottom of the seventh, putting runners on the corners—thanks to a lead-off double by Burrows and a one-out single by Stockman—but Cardinal pitcher Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) got a pop out and groundout to end the threat and send the game into extra innings.
 
Saint Mary's squandered a golden opportunity in the eighth, as Schultz opened the inning by reaching and advancing to second on an error by Luther shortstop Anna Strien. Haley Vanourney (Marion, Iowa) sacrificed Schultz to third and Birkhauser was intentionally walked to put runners on first and third with one out. Bratland, working her fourth inning of relief for the Norse, wiggled out of the jam with a pop-out and strikeout.
 
For the second straight inning, Luther led off the eighth with a double—this time off the bat of Bailey Victoria—but Trendle once again did her best Houdini impersonation to keep the Norse from plating the game-winning run.
 
Shayley Vesel (Austin, Minn.) and Gudmundson sandwiched singles around a pair of strikeouts, and Schultz came through with the clutch hit, ninth-inning hit—a two-out single to center, scoring pinch-runner Roni Stevens (Delano, Minn.)—to give Saint Mary's a 2-1 lead.
 
The lead would not last long, however, as Luther loaded the bases with back-to-back singles and a walk in its half of the ninth, before Stockman singled to deep short to knot the game 2-2, and Banowetz followed with Luther's fourth hit of the inning to plate the game-winning run.
 
Vesel led the Cardinals' Game 2 seven-hit offensive attack, going 3-for-4 for her first collegiate three-hit game, while Gudmundson added a pair of hits, and Schultz and Birkhauser each added singles.
 
The Cardinals (8-10 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend, traveling back to the RCTC Dome in Rochester, Minn., for doubleheaders against Carleton (1 p.m.) and Hamline (7:30 a.m.) Saturday and Sunday, respectively.