By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University's Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.) certainly had a flair for the dramatic Wednesday morning.
 
The Cardinal junior made her presence felt, both at the plate and in the field, against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology — much to the dismay of the Fightin' Engineers.
 
Schultz broke a 1-1 stalemate with a two-out infield single to give Saint Mary's their first lead of the game, then foiled Rose-Hulman's threat to tie the game in the bottom of the frame with a game-ending tag-out at the plate in sparking the Cardinals' 2-1 victory.
 
With the score tied at 1-1 — Saint Mary's run coming on an Erin Sullivan () RBI groundout in the fifth — the Cardinals loaded the bases in the seventh with one out, thanks to a walk to Amy Kulaga, an infield single by Heidi Stewart (Burnsville, Minn.), and Marissa Kleckler (Oregon, Wis.) being hit by a pitch.
 
Enter Schultz, who delivered an RBI infield single to deep short to give Saint Mary's its first lead of the game, 2-1.
 
Rose-Hulman tried to make the most of its final at-bat, loading the bases with one out. Pitcher Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) induced a ground out to third for the second out, and a heads-up Schultz corralled a wild pitch and tagged out RHIT's Alexis Sullivan trying to score from third on the play to seal the victory.
 
Stewart finished with two hits in three at-bats for the Cardinals, while Schultz, Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.), and Amy Kulaga (Riverside, Ill.) accounted for the other three hits. Chow picked up the win in relief of starter Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.), throwing 4.2 innings of scoreless, one-hit ball. Sutor went the first 2.1 innings, allowing one run on three hits.
 
With the win, the Cardinals improved to 3-2 during their 12-game spring trip — with four of those five contests being decided by one run.