MANKATO, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team closed out its two-day, four-game stay at the Mankato Dome in impressive fashion Sunday afternoon, collecting back-to-back wins over North Central and Bethany Lutheran.
The Cardinals erupted for eight runs in the first inning and five more in the second inning to a 13-1, five-inning victory over North Central in their first game of the day, before completing the 2-0 effort with a 5-1 win over host Bethany Lutheran in the second game.
Saint Mary's took advantage of five North Central errors in the first inning en route to its eight-run outburst. SMU collected five first-inning runs — including two by
Allison Ciero (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) — and got a two-run double from
Savannah Swanson ().
The Cardinals picked up right where they left off in the second, scoring five times – including
Ali French's (Winona, Minn.) inside-the-park home run, the first of her collegiate career — to push their lead to 13-0. North Central foiled SMU's shutout bid, scoring a solo run int eh bottom of the fourth to round out the scoring.
Ciero finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI to pace SMU's 12-hit attack against North Central, while
Madison Kindler added two hits and three RBIs.
ANOTHER BIG INNING FUELS 5-1 WIN
The Cardinals surrendered a run in the top of the first inning against Bethany Lutheran, and still trailed 1-0 into the bottom of the second — when the Cardinals scored four times on just one hit to take the lead for good.
Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) belted SMU's third home run of the weekend — a two-run shot — and SMU added a pair of unearned runs en route to its 4-1 lead.
Saint Mary's tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by
Peyton Berg, scoring French — who opened the inning with a double and moved to third on an error.
French, Berg, Sutor, and
Riley Hall (Dallas Center, Iowa) collected Saint Mary's four hits, with Sutor driving in two runs and Berg plating another.
The Cardinals (3-1 overall) are now off until Feb. 27, when they square off against Adrian and Houghton to kick off their spring trip to Winter Haven, Fla.
