NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team has had a flair for the dramatic of late.
 
Just two days after erupting for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, including a walk-off, three-run home run to secure a 9-0 victory over UW-Superior — not to mention seal Morgan Dziondziakowski (West Milwaukee, Wis.) first collegiate no-hitter — the Cardinals were at it again against Carleton.
 
Down 1-0 after six innings, the Cardinals exploded for six runs — including a three-run double off the bat of Hallie Schmeling (Onalaska, Wis.) — en route to a 6-2 victory over the host Knights in the opening game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at Ele Hansen Field.
 
Saint Mary's could have used a few of those "left-over" Game 1 runs in the nightcap, as Carleton salvaged a split in the teams' season-ending twinbill, beating the Cardinals 9-1 in five innings.
 
Carleton got on the board first in the opener, getting an RBI triple from Reagan Wills in the bottom of the second inning — and the Knights would maintain that one-run advantage through the game's first six innings.
 
In the seventh, however, the Cardinals made the most of their final at-bat, getting an RBI single from Haley Williams (Littleton, Colo.) to knot the game at 1-1. A bases-loaded walk to Lexi Brooks (Searcy, Ark.) gave Saint Mary's its first lead of the game, and Justine Schultz (Winona, Minn.) was hit by a pitch to force in the Cardinals' third run of the inning. Schmeling then cleared the bases with her second hit of the game — a three-run double — to give SMU a 6-1 lead.
 
Carleton tacked on one run in the bottom of the seventh, but Cardinal pitcher Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) worked out of a bases-loaded jam with an infield fly-out and a strikeout to seal the victory.
 
Schmeling and Amy Kulaga (Riverside, Ill.) each had two hits to pace the Cardinal offense, while Sutor tossed a complete-game five-hitter, allowing two runs, while striking out five for her third win of the season.
 
Fresh off her first collegiate no-hitter — the Cardinals' first no-no since the final game of the 2017 season — Dziondziakowski was back in the pitcher's circle for Game 2 against the Knights. Unfortunately, the end result was not so memorable, as Carleton tagged the freshman left-hander for five runs on four hits in two innings.
 
Saint Mary's actually scored in its first at-bat in the second game. Schultz opened the game reaching first on a hit-by-pitch, moved to second on a Schmeling sacrifice, advanced to third on a Sutor ground-out, and scored on Erin Sullivan's (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) two-out single down the left-field line.
 
That, however, would be the only time the Cardinals would cross the plate.
 
It was a different story for the Knights, as Carleton scored once in each of the first two innings, before erupting for five runs in the third and closing things out with a pair of runs in the fifth.
 
Schultz, Sullivan, and Kulage accounted for two of the Cardinals' three Game 2 hits.
 
Saint Mary's closed out the season 6-16 in conference play, while going 10-26 overall.