SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS
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2023: 1-1 MIAC, 7-9 Overall
ST. CATHERINE WILDCATS
Home | Roster | Stats | Schedule
2023: 2-0 MIAC, 8-10 Overall
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SMU-SCU * LAST MEETING:
April 2, 2023 * St. Paul, MN
W, 10-7; L, 9-1 * Series History
SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:
April 3, 2023 * Winona, MN
Hamline * W, 4-3; L, 6-5
ST. CATHERINE * LAST ACTION:
April 2, 2023 * Minneapolis, MN
Augsburg * W, 2-0; W, 5-4
SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:
April 8, 2023 * Northfield, MN
Carleton * 1 p.m.
ST. CATHERINE * UP NEXT:
April 8, 2023 * St. Paul, MN
St. Scholastica * 11:30 a.m.
SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: Saint Mary’s heads into its conference doubleheader against St. Catherine sitting at 7-9 overall, including 1-1 through its first two MIAC contests.
• LAST TIME OUT: Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.) went 5-for-7 with a pair of RBIs, as the Cardinals kicked off conference play with a split against Hamline Monday at the SMU Field. Ali French (Winona, Minn.) delivered a walk-off double in the bottom of the seventh to lift SMU to a 4-3 win in the opener, only to have HU score four times in the top of the seventh — and hold off a furious Cardinal rally in the bottom of the frame — to beat Saint Mary’s 6-5 in the nightcap.
• NCAA FOES: The Cardinals have already faced four teams — Bethany Lutheran, Nebraska Wesleyan, Cabrini, and Alma — that played in the NCAA tournament a year ago.
• AT THE PLATE: As a team, Saint Mary’s is hitting .301 through 16 games, and boasts six regulars who are hitting above .300. … Ali French (Winona, Minn.) leads the way with a .471 batting average, followed by Heather Nordlund (.439), Naleya Bork (De Pere, Wis. / .378), Peyton Berg (.353), Zoe Fink (Stevens Point, Wis. / .333), and Savannah Swanson (Marengo, Ill. / .333).
• RUNNING WILD: After scoring 183 runs in 33 games a year ago, Saint Mary’s has already plated 84 runs through 16 games this season. … Riley Hall (Dallas Center, Iowa) has scored a team-leading 19 times, while Allison Ciero (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and Bork have also reached double figures with 12 and 11 runs scored, respectively. … SMU has had a player score three runs in a game three times this season.
• HIT PARADE: Nordlund has racked up a team-leading 18 hits, one more than Bork, while Ciero (15), Hall (13), Abbie Stigler (Menomonie, Wis. / 13), and Berg (12) have also delivered more than 10 hits through 16 games. … Ciero, Nordlund, and Bork have all put together a team-leading five multiple-hit games this season, while French owns the team’s only four-hit performance — going 4-for-4 in a season-opening 8-0 win over Crown on Feb. 18.
• EXTRA, EXTRA: Forty-three of the Cardinals’ 133 hits through 16 games have been for extra bases — including 33 doubles, one triple and nine home runs. … Bork owns a team-high six doubles, while Hall has hit SMU’s lone triple.
• GOING YARD: After delivering just five home runs a year ago, Saint Mary’s has already launched nine round-trippers this season — including two against Hamline on Monday. Bork leads the team with three HRs, with Hall, Nordlund, Stigler, Sutor, French, and Jada Allen (Stevens Point, Wis.) owning the other six. … The home runs by Bork, Nordlund, Stigler, Hall, Allen, and French were all collegiate firsts.
• DRIVING ‘EM IN: Nordlund and Bork have each reached double figures in RBIs through 16 games, with Nordlund leading the way with 13, one more than Bork. Stigler is third with nine RBIs. … Nordlund and Bork have amassed a team-leading four multiple-RBI games, with Stigler, Berg, and Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) each owning two.
• TOUGH TO STOP: Ciero closed out the 2022 season having hit safely in each of the Cardinals’ last nine games, and extended that streak to 12 with hits in SMU’s first three games in 2023, before being held hitless against Bethany Lutheran on Feb. 19. … Fink owns the team’s longest active hit streak at five.
• CAN’T CATCH ME: Saint Mary’s, which stole 70 bases in 2022, has already stolen 44 bases this season – led by Hall (12-for-12), Ciero (7-8), and Stigler (6-8). … SMU has gotten at least one stolen base from 11 different players.
• OUCH: Hall, who was hit by a pitch 12 times last season — tied for 11th-most in NCAA Division III — has already been hit seven times this season. … Hall was hit by three pitches against Rosemont on March 3, tied for the highest single-game total in NCAA Division in 2022.
• IN THE CIRCLE: Saint Mary’s has used five different pitchers this season, with Bork leading the way, tossing 48.0 innings, compiling a 2-5 record and a 3.79 ERA. Sarah Kraus (Onalaska, Wis.) is second on the staff with 46.0 IP (2-5, 3.35 ERA), while Izzy Griffin (0-0, 2.33 ERA, 3.0 IP), Sutor (1-0, 1.50 ERA, 4 2/3 IP), and Amy Gappa (Trempealeau, Wis. / 0-0, 0.00 ERA, 3.0 IP) have also seen time in the circle. … Kraus has accounted for four of the team’s six complete games, with Bork tossing the other two. … Kraus and Bork have each made a team-leading 10 pitching appearances.
• PITCHING FIRSTS: Bork picked up her first pitching win of the season against Bethany Lutheran n Feb. 18, allowing one run on four hits in four innings of a 5-1 Saint Mary’s win.
• FANNING THE FLAMES: Cardinal pitchers have combined to strike out 74 batters through 16 games, led by Kraus (36) and Bork (24). … Bork struck out a career-high 10 batters in the Cardinals’ 8-3 win over Houghton on Feb. 27. The 10 strikeouts were the most by a Cardinal pitcher since Amber Chow fanned 10 against Gustavus on April 17, 2021.
• WEEKLY HONORS: Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.) was named MIAC Player of the Week on March 6, after hitting .500 (10-for-20), with a double and a home run, in SMU’s eight spring trip games. It was the first weekly honor for the Cardinal sophomore.
• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: The Cardinals have outscored their first 16 opponents 84-65 — including 19-6 in the second inning, 14-5 in the fourth, and 11-3 in the fifth. … SMU has scored 10 or more runs in a game twice, highlighted by a season-high 13-run effort in its 13-1, five-inning victory over North Central on Feb.18. … Saint Mary’s is 5-1 in games decided by five or more runs, but 1-4 in one- or two-run games. … The Cardinals have held their opponent to two runs or less in five of their eight wins. On the flip side, SMU is 0-5 when failing to plate more than two runs. … Saint Mary’s, which scored four or more runs in an inning 13 times last season — including a season-high seven-run sixth inning in its 12-3 win over Rosemont on March 3, 2022 — has scored four or more runs in an inning five times this season. SMU scored a season-high eight runs in the first inning of its 13-1 win over North Central on Feb. 19.
ST. CATHERINE WILDCATS SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Wildcats head into their conference doubleheader at Saint Mary’s sitting at 8-10 overall, including a sweep of Augsburg in its first two MIAC contests.
• LAST TIME OUT: St. Catherine scored the game’s only runs in the top of the first inning, as SCU opened its MIAC doubleheader against Augsburg last Sunday in Minneapolis, Minn., with a 2-0 win, before completing the sweep 5-4 on a Kylee Kohout RBI single in the top of the seventh inning.
• POWER OUTAGE: SCU heads to Saint Mary’s having been held to two runs or less in six of its last nine games — including managing just one run in losses to UW-Eau Claire (6-1), Tufts (7-1), and UW-Whitewater (8-1), while being shut out by Hope (1-0).
• LEADING THE CHARGE: Kaitlin Boyles and Sarah Posey head into SCU’s conference matchup against Saint Mary’s leading the Wildcats’ offense. Boyles is hitting a team-leading .347, while Posey comes in with a .298 batting average. … As a team, St. Catherine is hitting .247 through 18 games.
• ON THE RUN: Posey has scored a team-leading 12 runs through 18 games, followed by Taylor Brunn with nine runs scored and Helen McKinnon with seven. … Kohout scored a single-game, season-high three times against Bowdoin on March 21.
• HIT PARADE: The Wildcats boast five players who have collected 10 or more hits this season, led by Posey and Boyles with 17. Brunn (14), Julia Azure (14), and McKinnon (11) have also reached double figures in hits through 18 games. … Posey leads the Wildcats’ with five multiple-hit games, while Boyes, Brunn, Aronson, and Natalee Sigfrids have each delivered a single-game season-high three-hit performance.
• EXTRA, EXTRA: St. Catherine has collected 116 hits this season, including 20 for extra bases — 18 doubles and two triples. Boyles has belted a team-high six doubles, three more than both McKinnon and Sam Aronson, while McKinnon and Montero own SCU’s two triples.
• DRIVING ‘EM IN: Boyles boasts a team-leading 10 RBIs, three more than McKinnon, Azure, and Aronson. … Aronson, Kohout, and Boyles have all recorded two multiple-RBI games, with Kohout and Aronson posting a season-high three-RBI games.
• STREAKING ALONG: Posey owns the Wildcats’ longest hitting streak of the season at six games, while Azure sports SCU’s longest active hit streak at three games. … Boyles has reached base safely in each of SCU’s last seven games.
• IN THE CIRCLE: St. Catherine has used five different pitchers this season, with three having logged more than 30 innings in the pitcher’s circle. Riley Leonhardt (2-3, 2.83 ERA) and Erica Pronschinske (1-2, 3.33) have each tossed 42.0 innings, with Montero (1-4, 2.65 ERA) close behind with 31 2/3 IP. … Leonhardt and Pronschinske lead the team with 11 appearances, while Pronschinske has started a team-high seven games, one more than both Leonhardt.
• COMPLETING WHAT THEY STARTED: Montero has tossed a team-high four complete games in her five starts. Leonhardt owns a pair of complete games, with Pronschinske also going the distance twice.
• FANNING THE FLAMES: Montero has accounted for 40 of the Wildcat pitchers’ 78 strikeouts. Pronschinske has struck out 19 batters, two more than Leonhardt. … Montero has struck out 10 or more batters three times this season — including a season-high 13-strikeout effort against Nebraska Wesleyan on Feb. 18.
• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: St. Catherine has scored 70 runs in 18 games this season, and has plated seven or more runs four times. On the flip side, SCU has allowed eight or more runs twice — allowing 12 in a 12-2 loss to UW-Stevens Point and eight in an 8-7 setback against Millikin. … Four of St. Catherine’s eight wins have come via shutout — beating Augsburg (2-0), the University of Dubuque (2-0), Bethany Lutheran (3-0), and William & Jefferson (8-0). SCU has been held without a run just once, falling to Hope 1-0. … The Wildcats posted single-game season-highs in runs (12), hits (14), RBIs (10), and doubles (3) in their 12-6 win over Bowdoin on March 21.
