By
Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
ROCHESTER, Minn. — It wasn't quite the start Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball coach
Jen Miller was hoping for.
And the finish didn't fare any better for the Cardinals.
The Cardinals—coming off a pair of losses to fifth-ranked Luther on Thursday, including a 3-2, nine-inning heartbreaking in Game 2—struggled to find their offensive mojo in the opening game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Carleton, managing just four hits in a 3-0 Knight victory.
The Knights continued to feast on Cardinal pitching in the nightcap, as Carleton scored twice in the first inning and added a combined seven runs in the fourth and fifth in dealing Saint Mary's a 10-2 Game 2 setback at the RCTC Dome.
Carleton scored all the runs it would need in the top of the second inning in the opener—getting a two-out single from Daleo—before padding the lead to 3-0 with a single run in the third.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, could not get to Knights' starter Maddie Sherwood, who limited Saint Mary's to just four singles—two from
Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) and one each from
Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) and
Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.)—while walking one and striking out four.
Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) suffered the Game 1 pitching loss, surrendering three runs—two earned—on nine hits. The freshman walked two and struck out one in the complete-game effort.
Carleton quickly jumped on Saint Mary's Game 2 starter
Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.), scoring twice in the first inning on a pair of RBI doubles by Eppard and Steinberg.
Saint Mary's got one run back in the second on a run-scoring single by
Haley Vanourney (Marion, Iowa), only to have Carleton score once in the third and three times in the fourth to push its lead to 6-1.
The Cardinals plated their second on a sacrifice fly by
Jordyn Keprios (Farmington, Minn.) in the bottom of the fourth, but the Knights would answer with four runs in the fifth to seal the five-inning victory.
Vanourney finished 2-for-2 with an RBI to pace the Cardinals' five-hit Game 2 attack, with Borawski,
Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.), and
Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.) each chipping in one hit.
The Cardinals (2-2 MIAC, 8-12 overall) are right back at the RCTC Dome in Rochester, Minn., on Sunday, squaring off against Hamline in a doubleheader scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m.
