WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team's nonconference doubleheader against UW-Platteville didn't start out quite the way coach Sam Borawskii was hoping.
 
And, unfortunately, It didn't  end any better.
 
UW-Platteville erupted for six runs in its very first at-bat, and the Pioneers never took their offensive foot off the gas, scoring 26 runs in dealing the Cardinals 12-3 and 14-0 setbacks Friday afternoon at the Saint Mary's Field.
 
Sporting that six-run advantage after the game's first inning, UW-Platteville tacked on two more runs in the top of the second for an 8-0 lead.
 
Saint Mary's answered, scoring all three of its runs in the bottom of the second, plating three runs on three hits — including an RBI single by Mackenzie Carey (Prescott, Wis.) and a bases-loaded walk to Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.).
 
That, however, would be the extend of the Cardinals' offensive punch on the afternoon, as UW-Platteville scored 14 unanswered runs over the day's final seven innings — scoring four times in the top of the fourth to ice the 12-3 Game 1 win, then adding 14 more in blanking Saint Mary's in the nightcap.
 
Carey, Sutor, Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.), Lexi Brooks (Searcy, Ark.), and Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) accounted for Saint Mary's five Game 1 hits, while Schultz went 2-for-3, and Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.), Marissa Kleckler (Oregon, Wis.), and Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.), and Jordan Meyers (Eyota, Minn.) all chipped in one hit.
 
The Cardinals (3-7 overall) are back in action on Sunday, hosting UW-La Crosse in a pair of nonconference games at the Saint Mary's Field. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.