LA CROSSE, Wis. — When the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team faced UW-La Crosse earlier this year, the Cardinals needed just five innings to dispatch of the Eagles 9-1.
The Cardinals could have used a few of those extra runs when the teams met again Wednesday afternoon.
UW-La Crosse held Saint Mary's to just four runs — two in Game 1 and two more in Game 2 — as the Eagles dealt Saint Mary's 6-2 and 4-2 setbacks in the teams' nonconference doubleheader.
GAME 1: UW-LA CROSSE 6, SAINT MARY'S 2
The Cardinals got off on the right foot — scoring twice in their first at-bat — but that would be the extent of the SMU run production, and the Eagles would break a 2-2 stalemate with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to claim the Game 1 victory.
Makayla Steffes (Winona, Minn.) opened the SMU first with a single, stole second, and scored the game's first run on a
Megan McGinnis (Appleton, Wis.) single to center. An Eagles' throwing error platted McGinnis to give the Cardinals the briefest of 2-0 advantages.
UW-La Crosse answered Saint Mary's two-run first with one of its own in the bottom of the first, and then broke the game open by parlaying four hits — including two doubles and a home run — into four runs to round out the scoring.
Steffes finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and McGinnis added a 2-for-4 effort, as the duo accounted for five of SMU's seven hits in the opener.
Emily Bonk (Hudson, Wis.) and
Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) accounted for SMU's other two hits.
GAME 2: UW-LA CROSSE 4, SAINT MARY'S 2
For the second straight game, the Cardinals once again struck first in the nightcap, this time plating a solo run in the top of the fifth — thanks to a one-out, bases-loaded sacrifice fly by
Ali French (Winona, Minn.).
Unfortunately, as was the case in Game 1, UW-La Crosse answered right back, scoring a single run in the bottom of the fifth to knot the game at 1-1.
And once again it was the bottom of the sixth that did in the Cardinals.
The Eagles loaded the bases with one out on a pair of singles and Cardinal throwing error. SMU got the second out of the inning on a force-out at home, but could not get the third before UW-L's Jordyn McCormack laced a two-run double and Abby Bosch followed with an RBI single to give UW-La Crosse a 4-1 lead.
Saint Mary's threatened in the seventh, getting back-to-back singles by
Karli Zetah (Goodhue, Minn.) and
Kenzie Gatz (Oswego, Ill.) to lead off the frame. The two advanced to second and third on a passed ball, and Zetah scored on a UW-L fielding error to cut the deficit to 4-2.
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get in falling to the Eagles for a second straight time.
Gatz was the only Cardinal with more than one hit, going 2-for-3 with a run scored, while Steffes, McGinnis, French, and Zetah all had one hit. Gatz went the distance in the pitcher's circle, allowing four run — just one of which was earned — on 10 hits, while walking three and striking out one.
The Cardinals (17-5 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend with a pair of doubleheaders. SMU will travel to Arden Hills, Minn., to take on 10th-ranked Bethel on Saturday, before returning home to the SMU Field to square off against St. Olaf on Sunday. Both twinbills are slated for a 1 p.m. start.
