RIVER FALLS, Wis. — Five proved to be the lucky number for the Saint Mary's fastpitch softball team Thursday afternoon, as the Cardinals scored five runs in both games in sweeping their nonconference doubleheader against UW-River Falls.
The sweep, however, was anything but easy.
Saint Mary's scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning — after UW-RF had rallied from a 3-0 deficit with three runs in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings — and withstood a Falcon eighth-inning comeback bid to beat the Falcons 5-4 in the opener.
And in the nightcap, SMU cruised into the bottom of the seventh boasting a 5-0 lead, but had to hang on for dear life, as the Falcons scored three times in their final at-bat in Saint Mary's sweep-clinching 5-3 victory in the nightcap at Faye Perkins Stadium.
GAME 1: WORKING OVERTIME
Saint Mary's struck first, breaking a scoreless deadlock with a solo run in the third.
Allison Ciero (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) reached on an error to open the third and promptly stole second.
Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) walked and
Mackenzie Carey (Prescott, Wis.) sacrificed the pair to second and third, with Ciero then plating the game's first run on a
Riley Hall (Dallas Center, Iowa) groundout to second.
The Cardinals clung to that one-run advantage until the sixth, when SMU would plate another solo run.
Naleya Bork (De Pere, Wis.) kicked off the inning with a single, was sacrificed to second and pinch-runner
Grace Olmstead (Beloit, Wis.) scored on a Ciero single to center to give Saint Mary's a two-run cushion.
Ali French (Winona, Minn.) pushed the Cardinal lead to 3-0 in the top of the seventh, lacing a one-out RBI single to center, scoring
Jada Allen (Eau Claire, Wis.) who jump-started the inning with a one-out, pinch-hit single.
The Falcons did not have an answer to Cardinal starting pitcher
Sarah Kraus (Onalaska, Wis.) through the first six innings, managing just three hits — two coming in the first inning and the other in the second.
And then came the seventh, where UW-River Falls tagged Kraus for four hits and scored three times — including the game-tying run on a throwing error — to send the game into extra innings.
Unfazed, the Cardinals promptly scored twice in the top of the eighth — thanks to a lead-off double by
Abbie Stigler (Menomonie, Wis.) that scored
Michelle Smith (Oak Lawn, Ill.), who was placed at second to open the inning, and a run-scoring single by Ciero that plated Stigler — to give SMU a 5-3 lead.
The Falcons made things interesting in their half of the eighth — getting back-to-back singles to open the inning and pull within one, 5-4 — but Kraus set down the next three batters she faced to preserve the Cardinal victory.
Ciero finished 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the Cardinals' 10-hit offensive attack, with French, Bork, Olmstead, Stigler, Carey, Allen, and
Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) collecting the other seven hits.
GAME 2: SAME RUN TOTAL, SAME NERVE-RACKING FINISH
The Cardinals picked up where they left off, scoring in their first at-bat in the nightcap. Hall kicked things off with a lead-off single, stole second, was sacrificed to third, and scored on a sacrifice fly by
Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.).
SMU pushed its lead to 3-0 in the third, getting back-to-back-to-back hits to open the inning — including an RBI double by French — while a Nordlund ground-out plated the Cardinals' second run for a three-run Saint Mary's advantage.
And that advantage ballooned to five in the sixth, the Cardinals capitalized on a UW-RF fielding error and an RBI double by Hall to extend their lead to 5-0.
The Falcons tried to mount another seventh-inning rally, getting a one-out double and back-to-back singles to break Bork's shutout bid and make it a 5-1 game. UW-River Falls plated two more runs on a passed ball and a single to cut the SMU lead to 5-3, but Bork wiggled out of the jam with a fly ball out to right to secure the Cardinals' sweep.
Hall finished 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored, while French and Berg each chipped in a pair of hits. Bork went the distance in the pitcher's circle, allowing just three runs on seven hits — including four hits in the bottom of the seventh — while walking one and striking out four.
The Cardinals (11-13 overall) return to conference play on Friday, when they welcome St. Scholastica to the Saint Mary's Field for a 3 p.m. MIAC doubleheader.
