By
Donny Nadeau
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
ROCHESTER, Minn. — For the third time in the last four days, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team returned to its "home away from home" inside the RCTC Dome Sunday morning.
Unfortunately, it wasn't home sweet dome for the Cardinals in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Hamline.
The Pipers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to deal Saint Mary's a 3-1 setback in Game 1, before using another late-game, sixth-inning rally—this time plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth—to complete the sweep with a 6-4 win in the nightcap.
With one swing of the bat, the Cardinals took the early lead in the opener against the Pipers, as
Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) belted a two-out home run in the top of the second—her first of the season—to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead.
A one-run advantage the Cardinals would cling to until the sixth, when the Pipers scored all three of their runs—all with two outs—to earn the come-from-behind victory.
Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.) delivered two of the Cardinals' three hits in the opener, going 2-for-3, while Borawski's home run accounted for the other.
Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) suffered the pitching loss, allowed three runs on 10 hits, while walking two and striking out four.
The Cardinals once again grabbed the early lead in the nightcap, getting RBI singles from
Shayley Vesel (Austin, Minn.) in both the first and third innings to give Saint Mary's a 2-0 lead.
Hamline, however, responded with four unanswered runs—one in the third and three more in the fourth—to take a 4-2 advantage.
Saint Mary's pulled even, 4-4—thanks to a run-scoring single by
Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) in the fifth, and a Hamline fielding error in the sixth—only to have the Pipers complete their second come-from-behind win by plating a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth.
The Cardinals boasted five players—Gudmundson, Vesel,
Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.),
Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.), and
Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.)—with two hits to pace the Cardinals' 11-hit offensive attack, with Aldrich adding the other.
The Cardinals (2-4 MIAC, 8-14 overall) are back in action on Thursday, returning home to the Saint Mary's Field for a 3 p.m. conference doubleheader against Macalester.
