By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team took the field Sunday afternoon riding a wave of offensive momentum — having erupting for season-highs in both runs (14) and hits (19) in beating Concordia 14-0 in the second game of their conference doubleheader the previous day.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinals could have used a few of those Saturday runs in Sunday's opener against Bethel, as the Royals limited Saint Mary's to just a single, fourth-inning run in a 9-1, five-inning BU victory.
 
The Cardinals returned to their Saturday form in the nightcap, however, scoring four runs in the second inning, before adding two more in the sixth — on Haley Williams' (Littleton, Colo.) first collegiate home run — as Saint Mary's earned the season-ending, conference split with a 6-3 victory at Saint Mary's Field.
 
Bethel did not waste any time getting on the board in the opener — in fact, it took the Royals just four pitches, as Allie Fauth launched the fourth offering by Cardinal starting pitching Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) over the left-field fence to kick-start a two-run BU first inning.
 
Bethel added three more runs in the second, and scored solo runs in both the third and fourth to push its lead to 7-0, before the Cardinals finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth — when Marissa Kleckler (Oregon, Wis.) drew a two-out walk in the fourth, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on an RBI single by Williams.
 
The Royals, however, tacked on two runs in the top of the fifth, and the Cardinals did not have an answer in dropping the five-inning decision.
 
Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) went 2-for-2 to pace the Cardinals' six-hit Game 1 attack, with Justine Schultz  (Winona, Minn.), Maria Averbeck (Lewiston, Minn.), Kleckler, and Williams accounting for the other four.
 
The Royals once again came out swinging in the nightcap, scoring once in the top of the first inning. This time around, however, the Cardinals had an answer, getting an RBI single from Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.) in the bottom of the second to knot the game at 1-1.
 
And the Cardinals weren't about to be satisfied with just a single run in the second — not by a long shot — as they loaded the bases with nobody out. Williams delivered an RBI single to right to give the Cardinals their first lead of the day, 2-1, and Erin Sullivan (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) followed with a two-run single to right to make it 4-1.
 
Bethel chipped away at the lead, ,scoring single runs in the fourth and fifth to make it a one-run game, but with one swing of Williams' bat, the Cardinals were back in complete control, as the Cardinal junior launched her first collegiate home run — a two-run shot to right-center — to extend the Saint Mary's lead to 6-3.
 
Williams finished the nightcap 2-for-3 with a run scored and three RBIs, while Nikolich also had a pair of hits and Sullivan drove in two runs. Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) picked up the pitching win, allowing three runs on eight hits, while walking one and striking out two.