ROCHESTER, Minn. — It wasn't quite the season-opener the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team was hoping for.
Saint Mary's kicked off their 2021 season in the Rochester Dome Sunday afternoon, and Luther made life miserable for the Cardinals.
Luther erupted for 26 runs — including a six-run fourth and nine-run fifth in the opener — as the Norse dealt the Cardinals 15-0 and 11-2 nonconference setbacks.
After four scoreless innings in the opener, Luther's bats came to life — in a big way — as the Norse scored six times in the fourth inning and added nine more runs in the fifth to seal the five-inning victory.
Mackenzie Carey (Prescott, Wis.) and
Haley Williams (Littleton, Colo.) collected the Cardinals' two hits in the opener, as Luther out-hit the Cardinals 16-2 in Game 1.
Luther opened the second game with back-to-back two-runs innings in the second and third to grab a quick 4-0 lead, before Saint Mary's finally got on the board — scoring twice in the top of the fourth.
Williams plated Saint Mary's first run of the season with a one-out sacrifice fly in the fourth, and
Lexi Brooks (Searcy, Ark.) drove in the second with a bases-loaded RBI single.
That, however, would be all the offense the Cardinals would muster, and Luther would tack on seven runs in the top of the fourth to ice the 11-2, six-inning triumph.
Amy Kulaga (Riverside, Ill.) and
Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) each had two hits to pace Saint Mary's nine-hit Game 2 effort, while Brooks,
Erin Sullivan, Carey, and
Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) added the other two.
The Cardinals (0-2 overall) are back in action on Thursday, heading to St. Paul, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. nonconference doubleheader against the University of Northwestern.
