ST. JOSEPH, Minn. — After dropping the first game of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Saint Benedict, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team entered Game 2 hoping history might repeat itself.
 
After all, the Bennies entered Sunday's showdown against the Cardinals having split their last four conference doubleheaders.
 
And for two innings, it looked like that might just be the case once again.
 
The Bennies, however, had other ideas.
 
Saint Mary's — coming off a 9-1 loss in the opener — erupted for six runs in the top of the second inning to take a 6-2 lead, only to have Saint Benedict rattled off 12 unanswered runs to complete the conference sweep with a 14-6, Game 2 win.
 
GAME 1: TWO BIG INNINGS
 
Saint Benedict did not waste any time grabbing control in the opener — taking advantage of two hits, three walks, a pair of wild pitches and two passed balls — en route to a 4-0, first-inning lead.
 
After setting down the Cardinals in order in the top of the first, the Bennies kicked off their half of the inning with a double and a single — with both eventually scoring on back-to-back passed balls. CSB would tack on two more runs — one on a wild pitch and the other on a double-steal — to take a commanding 4-0 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's finally broke through against CSB starter Tiffany Thompson, foiling the sophomore's no-hit bid with a lead-off double by Allison Ciero (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) in the fourth. Unfortunately, second base is where the Cardinal freshman would remain, as Thompson set down the next three batters she faced to end the threat as quickly as it began.
 
CSB broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth, getting RBI singles from Gabby Spencer, Addy Bowne, and Catie Carlson, and platting two more unearned runs on a bases-loaded SMU fielding error to give the Bennies a 9-0 cushion.
 
The Cardinals put the lead-off batter on for a second straight inning in the fifth — thanks to a Mackenzie Carey (Prescott, Wis.) single — and this time they were able to cash in, as pinch-runner Michelle Smith (Oak Lawn, Ill.) moved to third on back-to-back ground-ball outs and scored on a Thompson wild pitch.
 
That, however, would be the only run SMU would get off Thompson, who recorded a game-ending strikeout to cap the complete-game, two-hitter.
 
GAME 2: SIX RUNS NOT ENOUGH
 
The Cardinals appeared to get off to a much more favorable start in the nightcap, loading the bases with one out on a Ciero single and a pair of hit batters in the top of the first — only to have Bowne, CSB's Game 2 starting pitcher, wiggle out of the jam unscathed, getting Carey to line out to second and Erin Sullivan (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) to ground out to short.
 
Just like the Cardinals in top of the first, the Bennies packed the bases in the bottom of the frame. Unlike the Cardinals, however, CSB was able to scratch across a pair of unearned runs on a two-run single by Carlson to take the early 2-0 lead.
 
Saint Mary's offense came to life — in a big, big way — in the second inning, scoring six times to take a 6-2 advantage. Sarah Kraus (Onalaska, Wis.), Madison Kindler (Sussex, Wis.), and Ciero kick-started the inning with back-to-back-to-back singles — Ciero's driving in Kraus with the Cardinals' first run. Two straight CSB errors — one fielding and one throwing — scored three more Saint Mary's runs, and Carey capped the outburst with a two-run single.
 
CSB plated an unearned run in the bottom of the second to cut the deficit to three, 6-3, and regained the upper hand in the third, parlaying two hits and a pair of Cardinal errors into four runs and a 7-6 lead.
 
And the Bennies' offense was just heating up, as Saint Benedict scored six runs on five hits in the fourth and added another in the fifth for the five-inning, 14-6 victory.
 
Ciero and Carey both had two hits to account for four of SMU's eight hits, while Carey also drove in a pair of runs. Riley Hall (Dallas Center, Iowa), Sullivan, Krausand Kindler picked up Saint Mary's other four Game 2 hits.
 
The Cardinals (9-12 MIAC, 16-16 overall) close out their regular-season schedule on Wednesday, heading to St. Paul, Minn., to complete its April 11 suspended game against Hamline. The contest is deadlocked at 3-3 heading to the 10th inning.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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