NORTHFIELD, Minn. — It wasn't supposed to end like this.
 
It took 10 years for the Saint Mary's fastpitch softball team to make a return trip to the MIAC Tournament. And, unfortunately, St. Olaf made it a short-lived post-season appearance, as the Oles broke a 2-2 tie with a solo run in the bottom of the sixth inning in eliminating the Cardinals from post-season play with a 3-2 victory Thursday at Mabel Shirley Field.
 
St. Olaf threatened in the top of the first with a lead-off single and stolen base by Tarah DeCroock, but SMU starting pitcher Sarah Kraus (Onalaska, Wis.) wiggled out of the jam, inducing back-to-back flyouts and a ground out to second.
 
Saint Mary's collected its first hit of the afternoon in the second, when Ali French (Winona, Minn.) led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.) groundout. Cassie Sutor (Chicago, Ill.) drew a one-out walk to put runners on the corners. Just like Kraus in the bottom of the first, however, St. Olaf hurler Jenna Peschel worked out of the threat with a pair of fly-ball outs to keep the game scoreless.
 
The Oles put the lead-off batter on for a second straight inning in the second — and this time they cashed in. Amelia Christenson singled to kick things off, was sacrificed to second, and scored on a Cardinal fielding error to plate the game's first run — and grab a 1-0 advantage.
 
The Cardinals followed the Oles' lead, putting their lead-off batter on for a second consecutive inning to kick of the third — and matched St. Olaf by scoring a solo run to knot the game at 1-1.
 
Kiki Carey (Prescott, Wis.) opened the SMU third with the Cardinals' second straight lead-off double. Abbie Stigler (Menomonie, Wis.) sacrificed pinch-runner Michelle Doering (St. Louis Park, Minn.) to third, and Riley Hall (Dallas Center, Iowa) was hit by a pitch — the 21st time this season the junior has been hit — to once again put runners on the corners. Hall stole second, and a Peschel wild pitch scored Doering with SMU's first run of the game.
 
 The Oles regained the lead in their half of the third, getting a two-out RBI single from Christenson — St. Olaf's third hit of the inning — but after a scoreless fourth, the Cardinals came storming back.
 
Saint Mary's put runners on the corners — thanks to singles by Stigler and Hall — and St. Olaf's second error of the inning allowed Stigler to score the game-tying run with no one out. Peschel escaped without any further damage, getting a pair of ground-outs and a flyout to right to keep the game deadlocked, 2-2.
 
Kraus set St. Olaf down in order in its half of the fifth, but the junior was unable to silence the Oles again in the sixth.
 
Christenson led off the sixth with a single. Pinch-runner Abby Nevin was sacrificed to second, and scored on a single by Andy Conway to give the Oles their third one-run lead, 3-2, with one inning to play.
 
Peschel retired the Cardinals in order in both the sixth and seventh innings — including a strikeout, line-out and fly-out in the top of the seventh — to advance St. Olaf to an MIAC semifinal showdown with Saint Benedict on Saturday in Arden Hills, Minn.
 
Hall, Stigler, French, Carey, and Naleya Bork (Fond du Lac, Wis.) accounted for Saint Mary's five hits — including doubles by French and Carey — while Kraus allowed three runs on nine hits in suffering the loss in the circle.
 
The Cardinals close out the season with a 21-18 overall record — SMU's first 20+ win season since 2016, when they finished 22-16.
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