MANKATO, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team could not have kicked off its 2024 season any better.
 
And Saint Mary's made it look easy against two quality opponents — Northwestern (Minn.) and UW-La Crosse.
 
Northwestern reached the Upper Midwest Athletic. Conference (UMAC) Tournament title game, falling to UW-Superior 7-2, while UW-La Crosse swept through the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Tournament, only to come up empty in its two NCAA Regional Tournament games, dropping back-to-back games to Bethel (2-0) and Grinnell (6-4).
 
The Cardinals picked up a pair of nonconference victories Saturday afternoon, rolling past Northwestern 7-3 in their first game of the day at the Mankato Dome, before turning up the offensive heat with a 9-1, five-inning victory over UW-La Crosse in the second game of the day.
 
After failing to plate a run in their first at-bat against Northwestern, the Cardinals scored their first run of the year in the bottom of the second, before breaking open the game with four runs in the third — highlighted by a two-run double by Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.).
 
Northwestern cut the SMU lead to one with a single run in the fourth and two more in the fifth, only to have SMU answer with a two-run frame of its own in the bottom of the inning — with Berg driving in both with her first home run of the season, a bomb to left-center.
 
Berg and Makayla Steffes (Winona, Minn.) accounted for six of the Cardinals' eight hits, both going 3-for-4, while Berg also drove in four runs. Steffes picked up her first collegiate pitching win — in her first collegiate start — allowing three runs, only one of which was earned, on six hits, while striking out five in six innings of work.
 
And the Cardinals picked up right where they left off against UW-La Crosse later in the day.
 
Saint Mary's erupted for seven runs in the second inning and never let the Eagles get their offense on track en route to the five-inning victory.
 
Berg followed up her 3-for-4 showing against Northwestern with two hits in three at-bats against the Eagles, while Steffes, Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.), Ali French (Winona, Minn.), and Allison Ciero (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) all chipped in one hit. Naleya Bonk collected the win in the pitcher's circle, allowing one run on six hits in 4 1/3 innings of work.
 
The Cardinals (2-0 overall) return to the Mankato Dome on Sunday, when they square off against North Central (1 p.m.) and Nebraska Wesleyan (3:30 p.m.) in a pair of nonconference games.
 
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