WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team has had no trouble putting up big numbers through its first 14 games of the season.
 
In fact, the Cardinals — sporting a 12-2 record and receiving votes in the latest NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll — headed into their conference-opening doubleheader against St. Catherine having outscored their opponents 133-56, and had plated 10 or more runs in a game five times.
 
And their 15th and 16th games of the season were no different — the Cardinals scored runs aplenty in sweeping the Wildcats Saturday afternoon at the SMU Field.
 
Saint Mary's erupted for eight runs, including a four-run fourth, in dispatching of the Wildcats 8-0 in five innings in the opener, before adding five more runs in the second game — and needing every one of them — in edging SCU 5-4 in the nightcap.
 
GAME 1: SAINT MARY'S 8, ST. CATHERINE 0 (5 INNINGS)
 
Good things came in twos for the Cardinals in the opener against the Wildcats, as SMU belted two, two-run home runs, scored two runs in each of the first two innings, and doubled that output with four runs in the fourth to seal the five-inning victory.
 
Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) got things rolling for SMU, launching a two-out, two-run bomb in the bottom of the first inning to give the Cardinals a quick 2-0 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the second, getting RBI singles from Emily Bonk (Hudson, Wis.) and Makayla Steffes (Winona, Minn.), before breaking things open with four runs in the fourth. Bonk clubbed SMU's second two-run bomb to extend the SMU lead to 6-0, and Breonna Methner (Woodbury, Minn.) and Berg added run-scoring singles to round out the scoring.
 
Berg finished the opener 3-for-3 with three RBIs, while Bonk and McGinnis (Appleton, Wis.) each chopped in two hits. Steffes picked up the win in the pitcher's circle, tossing a complete-game five-hitter, walking one and striking out one.
 
GAME 2: SAINT MARY'S 5, ST. CATHERINE 4
There were no offensive fireworks through the first five-and-a-half innings in the nightcap, as Bonk and SCU's Sarah Christy were embroiled in a scoreless pitchers' duel.
 
Saint Mary's finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth, scoring five times. Ali French (Winona, Minn.) kicked things off with a lead-off single, and pinch-runner Gabbie Grover moved to third on a throwing error, putting runners on the corners with nobody out. Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.) delivered an RBI single to score the game's first run, and, one out later Lizzie Pike laced a single through the right side to score run No. 2. Steffes added a two-run single to center and Methner chipped in a two-out RBI single to give SMU what appeared to be a commanding 5-0 advantage.
 
St. Catherine, however, would not go down without a fight, scoring four times in the top of the seventh, before Steffes — on in relief of Bork — induced Sam Aronson to pop out to second to end SCU's four-run seventh and seal the Cardinals' Game 2 victory.
 
Bonk was the only Cardinal with more than one hit, going 2-for-3, while Steffes, Methner, French, Nordlund, Bork McGinnis, and Pike all chipped in one hit.
 
The Cardinals (2-0 MIAC, 14-2 overall) are now off until Tuesday, when they step out of conference play to host UW-River Falls in a 2:30 p.m. nonconference doubleheader at the SMU Field.
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