WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball coach Sam Borawski knew her Cardinals were going to have their hands full when they stepped into the batter's box to face St. Olaf pitcher Julie Graf.
 
After all, the Ole senior entered Thursday's doubleheader as the reigning MIAC and NFCA Pitcher of the Week — not to mention the owner of more than 1,000 career strikeouts.
 
And, unfortunately for Borawski and the Cardinals, Graf was on top of her game.
 
The St. Olaf right-hander held the Cardinals hitless through 6 1/3 innings, settling for a complete-game one-hitter in leading the Oles to a 6-0 victory in Game 1 of the team's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader.
 
The Cardinals turned up the heat a bit in the nightcap, banging out seven hits and scoring four runs.
 
Problem was, the Oles stepped up their offensive game as well, erupting for 12 runs — including a pair of four-run innings — en route to a 12-4, six-inning victory.
 
With Graf in the pitcher's circle, the Oles plated all the runs they would need in the third inning of the opener, scoring twice off Saint Mary's starter Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.). St. Olaf would add two more two-run innings in the sixth and seventh — and Graf appeared headed for the no-hitter, cruising through six innings with 14 strikeouts.
 
Graf got Chow to ground out for the first out in the bottom of the seventh, but Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) laced a Graf offering into right field to break up the no-hit bid. That, however, would be the only hit the Cardinals would muster against the hard-throwing right-hander.
 
After waiting until the seventh inning to pick up their first hit in the opener, the Cardinals collected three hits in their first two at-bats, including RBI singles by Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) and Jordan Meyers (Eyota, Minn.) in SMU's two-run second inning.
 
The Cardinals' 2-0 lead did not last until their next at-bat, as St. Olaf recorded the first of its three four-run innings to take its first lead of the game, 4-2. Saint Mary's got one back in its half of the third, only to have St. Olaf answer, scoring twice in the top of the fourth.
 
Another Saint Mary's run in the bottom of the fourth cut the deficit to 6-4, but that would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as St. Olaf closed things out with two runs in the fifth and four more in the sixth.
 
Meyer finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored, and Schmeling went 2-for-3 with one run and an RBI to pace the Cardinals' Game 2 offensive attack. Chow, Sutor, and Tara Nikolich (Chicago, Ill.) all chipped in one hit.
 
The Cardinals (2-6 MIAC, 5-15 overall) are back in action this weekend, hosting Gustavus in a pair of conference games on Saturday at the Saint Mary's Field, with first pitch set for 1 p.m. SMU is then off to St. Paul, Minn., for another 1 p.m. MIAC doubleheader against St. Catherine the following day.