CLERMONT, Fla. — There was something about the seventh inning that seemed to appeal to the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team Tuesday afternoon.
 
Just hours after scoring their only two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning of a 4-2 loss to the University of Dubuque, the Cardinals were at it again against Milwaukee School of Engineering.
 
The Cardinals put together their second straight two-run seventh inning — this time plating a pair of runs in the top of the seventh to grab a 4-3 lead — only to have the Raiders answer with a walk-off, two-run double by Morgan Long in the bottom of the inning to lift MSOE to a 5-4 win over Saint Mary's at Myrtle Lake Park.
 
Trialing 3-2 through six innings, Allison Ciero (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) kicked off the Cardinals' seven with a lead-off bunt single and Riley Hall (Dallas Center, Iowa) followed with a single to right-center. One out later, Sophie Cave (Maplewood, Minn.) delivered a double to left, scoring both Ciero and Hall to give the Cardinals the 4-3 lead.
 
Unfortunately, the lead did not last long.
 
Grace Salaja induced a one-out walk to kick off the Raiders' seventh-inning rally, and, after SMU pitcher Sarah Kraus (Onalaska, Wis.) got Jenna Trewyn to strike out swinging for the second out, Lauren Stefanczy singled to left to put runners on first and second — and set up Long's walk-off heroics.
 
MSOE grabbed the early lead with a pair of solo runs in the first two innings, before Saint Mary's scored a pair of runs on an MSOE fielding error to knot the game at 2-2.
 
The Raiders regained the lead, 3-2, with yet another solo run in the sixth, before the two teams combined for four seventh-inning runs to round out the scoring.
 
Hall led the Cardinals' eight-hit attack, going 3-for-4, while Lizzy Baird (Wells, Minn.) was 2-for-3, and Ciero, Cave, and Amelia Spilde (Brooklyn, Wis.) each finished with one hit. Spilde went the first 5 1/3 innings in the pitcher's circle, allowing three runs on nine hits, while Kraus took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings of relief.
 
The Cardinals (2-4 overall) are now off until Thursday, when they square off against Rosemont and North Central (Minn.) in a pair of nonconference games in Clermont, Fla.
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