WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — It was the final day of the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team's eight-game spring trip — and the Cardinals came out swinging.
 
Saint Mary's erupted for 10 runs in the first three innings and rolled to a 10-0, five-inning win over Eastern University in the first game of its final day.
 
Game 2 was also decided in shutout fashion — unfortunately, it was the Cardinals getting shut out, rather than doing the shutting out, as Cabrini dealt Saint Mary's a trip-ending, 4-0 setback.
 
GAME 1: OFF AND RUNNING
The Cardinals did not waste any early opportunities in its first game of the day against Eastern, scoring three times in each of their first two at-bats.
 
Saint Mary's opened the game with four consecutive singles by Riley Hall (Dallas Center, Iowa), Allison Ciero (Glynn Ellyn, Ill.), Naleya Bork (De Pere, Wis.), and Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.) en route to putting up a three-spot in their first at-bat.
 
The Cardinals padded their advantage to 6-0 with another three-run frame in the second — all three scoring on a pair of errors on a Ciero grounder to second — before doing the first two innings one better with four runs in the bottom of the third to extend their lead to 10-0.
 
Emma Kral (Emmetsburg, Iowa) delivered a two-run single, while Jada Allen (Eau Claire, Wis.) laced an RBI single and Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) added a run-scoring double, in the Cardinals' four-run third-inning uprising.
 
And while the Cardinals were feasting on Eagles' pitching, Eastern had not answer for SMU's Sarah Kraus (Onalaska, Wis.), who tossed a complete-game two-hitter — allowing just a pair of EU third-inning singles — while walking two and striking out four.
 
Nordlund and Zoe Fink (Stevens Point, Wis.) paced the Cardinals' 12-hit offensive attack, each going 2-for-2, while eight others all had one hit each.
 
GAME 2: CARDINAL BATS SILENCED
As red-hot as the Cardinals were in their first game of the day, that offense went eerily quiet in the final game of the trip, managing just five hits in fall to the Cavaliers.
 
Cabrini jumped out to a 2-0 lead in its first at-bat, before tacking on solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings to deal Saint Mary's the 4-0 setback.
 
Hall, Bork, Fink, Berg, and Abbie Stigler (Menomonie, Wis.) each collected singles to account for SMU's five hits. Bork suffered the loss in the pitcher's circle, despite limiting Cabrini to just four runs — only one of which was earned — on six hits.
 
The Cardinals (6-6 overall) are now off until March 25, when they kick off the home portion of their schedule — weather permitting — with a 1 p.m. nonconference doubleheader against UW-La Crosse at the Saint Mary's Field.
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