WINONA, Minn. — It was a chilly afternoon at the Saint Mary's Field Sunday.
And while the temperatures hovered in the low 40, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team's offense was in an even chillier deep-freeze.
The Cardinals put runners on base in 10 of the 14 innings in Sunday's nonconference doubleheader against UW-La Crosse — but only had one run to show for it.
And one run against a high-powered offense like UW-La Crosse's was not going to cut it, as the Eagles dealt Saint Mary's a pair of losses, 3-0 and 7-1.
The Eagles scored all the runs they would need in the second inning of the opener, as Sydne Shattuck launched an
Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) offering over the left-field fence for a solo home run, and a 1-0 UW-L lead.
That would be the only run the Eagles would get off Chow until the seventh, when they parlayed three hits into two more runs for the 3-0 victory.
Saint Mary's had its share of chances in Game 1, putting at least one runner on base in every inning but the third — including the lead-off batter in the fourth and fifth on singles by
Lexi Brooks (Searcy, Ark.) and
Mackenzie Carey (Prescott, Wis.), respectively — but could not manufacture a run.
Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.) collected two of Saint Mary's five hits in the opener — going 2-for-4 — while Brookes, Carey, and
Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) had the other three hits. Chow allowed three runs on seven hits and struck out seven in the pitcher's circle.
The Eagles picked up right where they left off in the nightcap, scoring a single run in the top of the first, before adding three straight two-run innings in the third, fourth, and fifth to grab a 7-0 lead.
Saint Mary's finally pushed a run across in the bottom of the fifth — getting a lead-off walk by
Amy Kulaga (Riverside, Ill.), who promptly stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Schultz RBI groundout.
That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' run production.
Chow collected two of Saint Mary's four hits in Game 2, with Sutor and
Jordan Meyers (Eyota, Minn.) accounting for the other two. Sutor suffered the pitching loss, giving up seven runs on eight hits in four innings, with Chow tossing the final three frames, holding UW-L to no runs on just two hits.
Saint Mary's (3-9 overall) are now off until Saturday, when they head to St. Thomas' South Field in St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference doubleheader.
