The Saint Mary’s fastpitch softball team is back on the road on Tuesday, as the Cardinals travel to St. Paul, Minn., for a 4:30 p.m. conference twinbill against Macalester.
SAINT MARY’S CARDINALS
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2024: 12-4 MIAC, 24-8 Overall
MACALESTER SCOTS
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2024: 11-5 MIAC, 24-10 Overall
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SMU-MAC * LAST MEETING:
April 16, 2023 * Minneapolis, MN
W, 9-6; W, 5-2 * Series History
SAINT MARY’S * LAST ACTION:
April 21, 2024 * Moorhead, MN
Concordia * W, 2-1; W, 5-3
MACALESTER * LAST ACTION:
April 21, 2024 * Duluth, MN
St. Scholastica * W, 11-10; W, 9-1
SAINT MARY’S * UP NEXT:
April 27, 2024 * Winona, MN
Augsburg * 1:00/3:00
April 28, 2024 * Winona, MN
Hamline * 1:00/3:00
MACALESTER * UP NEXT:
April 27, 2024 * St. Paul, MN
Bethel * 1:00/3:00
April 28, 2024 * Northfield, MN
St. Olaf * 1:00/3:00
SAINT MARY’S SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Cardinals head into their doubleheader against Macalester sitting at 24-8 overall, while owning a 12-4 mark in MIAC action.
• LAST TIME OUT: Saint Mary’s closed out a busy four-day stretch with a pair of wins over Concordia last Sunday. The Cardinals — who swept Carleton last Thursday and split with Saint Benedict on Saturday — picked up their second sweep of the stretch with a 2-1, 5-3 victory over the Cobbers in Moorhead, Minn.
• ROAD WARRIORS: SMU’s doubleheader at Macalester is the fourth consecutive road twinbill for the Cardinals, who played DHs at Carleton, Saint Benedict and Concordia in the past five days. … The Cardinals close out their regular-season schedule with a pair of home games this weekend, facing Augsburg on Saturday and Hamline on Sunday. … SMU is 5-3 on their home field, while going 19-5 on the road — including 12-2 in neutral-site contests.
• STREAK SNAPPERS: SMU had its six-game winning streak snapped with its 1-0, Game 2 loss to Gustavus on April 9. … The Cardinals have put together two five-game winning streaks this season, as well as a season-high six-game win streak this season. ... SMU heads to Macalester having won three straight.
• IN THE POLLS: Saint Mary’s made its first appearance in the NFCA Top 25 Coaches Poll since 2006, earning a No. 25 ranking on March 12, before slipping into the “Others Receiving Votes” category in five of the last six polls. … Saint Mary’s has faced three teams that were nationally ranked, winning all three — SMU dropped then-No. 4 Coe 5-4 on Feb. 24, and swept then-No. 10 Bethel 7-4 and 4-1 last Saturday.
• RARE COMPANY: SMU’s 17-2 start to the season was the Cardinals’ best since the 1997 season, when Saint Mary’s opened the year 37-1 — including a school-record 33-game winning streak.
• HITTING 24: With their sweep of Concordia on Sunday, the Cardinals lock up wins No. 23 and No. 24 on the season. It’s the most wins in a season since 2007, when Saint Mary’s ended the year 24-15. … The last time SMU won more than 24 games in a season was 2006, finishing 25-15-1. The Cardinals boasted a 37-12 mark in 2005 — the last time SMU reached the NCAA tournament.
• LEADING THE CHARGE: Makayla Steffes (Winona, Minn.) enters this week’s play boasting a team-leading .447 batting average. The freshman is one of four Cardinals who are hitting above .300. Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) is second to Steffes, hitting .393, followed by Ali French at .323 and Naleya Bork (De Pere, Wis.) at .313. Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn. / .296) and Emily Bonk (Hudson, Wis. / .289) are hovering percentage points away from joining the .300 club.
• ON THE RUN: Saint Mary’s has erupted for 219 runs in 32 games this season — including a season-high 22-run outburst in routing North Central 22-1 on Feb.18, an 18-run outburst in drubbing Martin Luther 18-2 on Feb. 24, and a 17-run showing against Emmanuel in a 17-9 win on March 4 … SMU’s 22 runs against North Central were the most in a game since plating 27 against Mount Marty College on March 20, 2009. … Steffes has scored a team-leading 34 runs, followed by French with 22, Berg with 21, Lizzie Pike (Rochester, Minn.) with 19, Bork with 16, and Megan McGinnis (Appleton, Wis.) with 14. … Steffes scored a career-high five times against Emmanuel on March 4. The five runs scored were the most since Alex Raske scored five times against Macalester on April 22, 2015.
• WALKING AWAY: The Cardinals have drawn a season-high seven walks in a game twice — against Emmanuel on March 4 and vs. Saint Benedict last Saturday.
• HIT PARADE: Saint Mary’s boasts eight players who have reach 20+ hits through 32 games, including three — Steffes (46), Berg (35), and French (32) — who have collected at least 30 hits. … Megan McGinnis (Appleton, Wis. / 29), Bork (25), Nordlund (24), Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis. / 22), and Bonk (22) have also reached the 20-hit mark. … Steffes and Bork have each posted career-high four-hit games, while SMU has had nine different players post three hits in a game this season. … Steffes — who has had a least one hit in 27 of the team’s 32 games — leads the team with 12 multiple-hit games, followed by McGinnis and Berg with 10.
• EXTRA, EXTRA: The Cardinals have delivered 81 extra-base hits this season — 54 doubles, eight triples, and 19 home runs. … Nordlund has delivered a team-best nine doubles, one more than both Steffes and Bork, with Berg and French each sitting with six. … McGinnis has recorded three of the team’s eight triples, one more than Pike, while Steffes, Bork, Samya Brown (Chicago, Ill.) owning the other three. … Saint Mary’s clubbed a single-game season-high nine doubles against Penn State Behrend on March 7, including a career-high three by Bork.
• BOMBS AWAY: Berg leads the Cardinals’ home run parade with seven — including posting her first and second collegiate two-home run game. The sophomore launched a pair of round-trippers against No. 10 Bethel on April 13 and repeated the feat against Saint Benedict last Saturday. … Bork and Nordlund are sitting second on the team with three round-trippers, followed by French, Steffes, and Bonk with two each, and McGinnis with one. … Berg launched Saint Mary’s first home run of the season, a two-run shot against Northwestern on Feb. 17. … Bonk’s two-run home run against St. Catherine last Friday was the first of her collegiate career, while Steffes’s lead-off HR against St. Scholastica in Game 2 on April 6 was her first as a Cardinal. … Nordlund’s grand slam home run against Carleton last Thursday was SMU’s first four-RBI round-tripper since Alex Raske delivered a bases-clearing HR against Bethel on April 2, 2014. … SMU slugged five home runs against St. Scholastica on April 6 — three in the first game and two more in the nightcap. … Saint Mary’s clubbed 16 HRs in 2023.
• DRIVING ‘EM HOME: Berg sits atop the team’s RBI race with 28. Nordlund (25), French (23), Bork (16), Steffes (16), Pike (14), McGinnis (11), and Breonna Methner (Woodbury, Minn. / 10) have also reached double figures in RBIs this season. … Nordlund, French, Berg, and Steffes have all posted four RBI games this season — with Nordlund achieving the feat twice. … Berg leads the team with seven multiple-RBI games, one more than Bork and Nordlund. … Nordlund finished SMU’s doubleheader against Carleton last Thursday with seven RBIs — four in Game 1 and three more in Game 2.
• STREAKING ALONG: Steffes and French have both posted hitting streaks of 10 or more games this season — Steffes hit safely in her first 12 games this season, while French had at least one hit in SMU’s first 10 games. … McGinnis’s current four-game hit streak is team team’s longest active streak. … French, who closed out the 2023 season hitting safely in each of the Cardinals’ last 12 games, had her 22-game hitting streak snapped against Heidelberg on March 7.
• CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Saint Mary’s has swiped 67 bases on 83 attempts this season, led by Steffes, who is 15-for-21 in the stolen base department. … SMU has gotten at least one stolen base from 19 different players. … Saint Mary’s posted 92 stolen bases in 112 attempts last season — and got at least one stolen base from 17 different players.
• IN THE CIRCLE: Steffes has logged a team-leading 98.0 innings in SMU’s first 32 games, compiling a 12-4 record and a 2.29 ERA, while throwing 10 complete games. … Bork has put together a 6-2 record and 2.49 ERA in 45.0 innings, while Kenzie Gatz (Oswego, Ill. / 4-2, 3.27 ERA, 45.0 IP), Izzy Griffin (West St. Paul, Minn. / 2-0, 4.73 ERA, 13 1/3 IP), and, and Rhiannon Carroll (Rudolph, Wis. / 0-0, 8.08 ERA, 4 1/3 IP) have also seen time in the circle for the Cardinals. … As a staff, Saint Mary’s pitchers own a 2.82 ERA and opposing batters are hitting just .267.
• SAVING THE DAY: Steffes has collected all four of the Cardinals’ saves this season, including Game 2 saves against Saint Benedict and Concordia last weekend.
• PITCHING FIRSTS: Steffes recorded her first collegiate pitching win with a six-inning, six-hitter against Northwestern on Feb. 17, and collected her first career save in SMU’s 5-4, Game 2 win over St. Catherine on April 29. … Gatz earned her first win as a Cardinal with a complete-game effort in SMU’s 11-4 win over Elizabethtown on March 8. … Griffin picked up her first collegiate win, and her first collegiate shutout — in her first collegiate start — in a 2-0 victory over Carleton last season, while Bork recorded her first pitching win as a Cardinal against Bethany Lutheran on Feb. 18, 2023, allowing one run on four hits in four innings of a 5-1 Saint Mary’s win.
• FANNING THE FLAMES: Saint Mary’s pitchers have struck out 112 batters in 32 games, led by Steffes with 66 strikeouts, followed by Bork with 17 and Gatz with 17. … Steffes struck out a single-game career-high 10 batters in last Sunday’s 2-1 Game 1 win over Concordia. The freshman also owns a nine-strikeout performance this season. … Steffes’ 10 strikeouts against Concordia are the most since Bork fanned 10 against Houghton on Feb. 27, 2023 and Amber Chow struck out 10 against Gustavus on April 17, 2021.
• MIAC HONORS: Steffes collected her third MIAC weekly honor on April 1, being named MIAC Pitcher of the Week. The freshman has also been named MIAC Offensive Player of the Week twice, on Feb. 19 and March 11.
• PROGRAM FIRSTS: The Cardinals’ spring trip games against Thomas, Emmanuel, Heidelberg, Penn State Behrend, and Elizabethtown were all the first in program history.
• WORKING OVERTIME: Saint Mary’s has played two extra-inning games, beating both Heidelberg (3-2) and Penn State Behrend (15-11) in eight innings. SMU scored nine runs in the top of the seventh, and then erupted for five runs in the top of the eighth in their 15-11 win over Penn State Behrend on March 7.
• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: As a team, Saint Mary’s is hitting .334 (297-for-888), with 54 doubles, eight triples, and 19 home runs, while scoring 219 runs and owning 183 RBIs. … SMU has outscored its first 32 opponents 219-109 — including 76-22 through the game’s first two innings. … SMU has scored five or more runs in an inning 10 times — including an 11-run fourth inning in the Cardinals’ 22-1, five-inning victory over North Central on Feb. 24. SMU has posted an eight-run first inning against Emmanuel on March 4 and a nine-run seventh inning against Penn State Behrend on March 7. … Saint Mary’s is 13-1 when holding its opponents to two runs or less. … The Cardinals are 19-4 when scoring first and 14-1 when scoring in the first inning. … SMU owns eight wins cut short by the eight-run rule.
MACALESTER SCOUTING REPORT:
• FOR THE RECORD: The Scots head into their mid-week doubleheader against Saint Mary’s sitting at 24-10 overall, including sporting an 11-5 record through 16 games in the conference slate.
• LAST TIME OUT: Macalester’s offense was in high gear last Saturday, as the Scots erupted for 11 runs in Game 1 of their MIAC twinbill against St. Scholastica — and they needed every one of those runs to outlast CSS 11-10. Macalester completed the sweep with a convincing 9-1 win in the nightcap in Duluth, Minn.
• BACK TO WINNING: After dropping both ends of doubleheaders against Saint Benedict and Gustavus on April 18 and 20, the Scots have rattled off four straight wins — sweeping St. Catherine last Saturday and taking two from St. Scholastica the following day.
• HOME SWEET HOME: Macalester’s matchup against Saint Mary’s is the first of back-to-back home doubleheaders for the Scots, who host Bethel on Saturday, before closing out the regular season at St. Olaf on Sunday. … The Scots are 8-2 in their 10 home games this season, while sitting at 16-8 away from the Macalester Softball Complex — including 11-5 in neutral-site contests.
• LEADING THE CHARGE: Elizabeth Welch heads into Macalester’s DH against Saint Mary’s as the team’s batting leader, boasting a .418 average. Welch is one of nine Scots who own batting averages north of .300 — being joined by Renee Nicholson (.396), Alli Johnson (.368), Sophie Futchko (.368), Emily Pedersen (.349), Tess Bojorquez (.321), Elsa Church (.320), Mandy Morrical (.320), and Callia Holland (.320).
• ON THE RUN: Macalester has amassed 217 runs in 34 games, and has had nine different players score 10 or more times. Nicholson leads the way for the Scots, crossing home plate 32 times, while Futchko (29), Johnson (27), Church (26), Morrical (23), and Pedersen (20) have also recorded 20+ runs scored. … Nicholson, Futchko, and Morrical have all scored a season-high three runs in a game this season
• HIT PARADE: Welch and Nicholson lead the Scots in hits with 47 and 42, respectively, followed by Futchko and Johnson with 39, and Pedersen with 37. Church (32) and Morrical (31) have also delivered more than 30 hits through 34 games. … Macalester has three players — Morrical, Johnson, and Welch — who have posted four-hit games this season. … Welch owns a team-leading 14 multiple-hit games, two more than Futchko and Nicholson, and three up on Pedersen and Johnson.
• EXTRA, EXTRA: Sixty-seven of Macalester’s 328 hits have been for extra bases, including 52 doubles, 11 triples, and four home runs. … Futchko has belted a team-best 11 doubles, one more than Pedersen and two up on Johnson, while Church (4) and Johnson (3) have accounted for seven of the team’s 11 triples. … Holland and Bojorquez have each clubbed two home runs. The duo are the only Scots to record a round-tripper this season. … Futchko cracked a season-high three doubles against Gustavus on April 18, while Church posted a season-best two triples vs. North Central on Feb. 17. … Macalester recorded a season-high five doubles against Gustavus on April 18, and collected a season-best three triples vs. North Central on Feb. 17.
• DRIVING ‘EM HOME: Macalester has three players — Welch (26), Pedersen (23), and Holland (20) — who have delivered at least 20 RBIs, while Futchko (18), Johnson (17), Morrical (16), Bojorquez (14), Church (13), and Nicholson (11) have also reached double figures in RBIs this season. … Welch has put together a team-best eight multiple-RBI games, followed by Holland with seven, and Pedersen and Johnson with five. … Futchko owns the Scots’ two four-RBI games this season.
• STREAKING ALONG: Macalester has had three players put together hitting streaks of 10 or more games, including a season-high 16-game hit streak by Welch. Church heads into the Scots’ DH against Saint Mary’s owning the team’s longest active hit streak at 10.
• IN THE CIRCLE: Rileigh Morlock has been a workhorse in the pitcher’s circle for the Scots, compiling a 12-7 record and 3.56 ERA in a team-leading 104 1/3 innings pitched. Bojorquez (5-2, 3.34 ERA) is second to Morlock with 50 1/3 IP, while Kaitlyn Pistorius (2-0, 6.38 ERA, 32 1/3 IP), Maddie Molay (1-0, 4.11 ERA, 15 1/3 IP), Kara Jensen (3-0, 3.77 ERA, 13.0 IP) and Paige Schultz (1-1, 4.74 ERA, 10 1/3 IP) have also seen time in the circle for the Scots this season.
• TEAMING UP: The Scots have only recorded seven complete games this season — four by Morlock and three by Bojorquez. … Morlock has made a team-leading 28 appearances — including 19 starts — while Bojorquez and Pistorius have both appeared in 16 games, followed by Jensen with nine appearances, Molay with eight, and Schultz with six.
• FANNING THE FLAMES: Macalester pitchers have combined to strike out 165 batters, led by Morlock with 75 strikeouts. Bojorquez is second on the staff with 38 Ks, followed by Pistorius with 20 and Molay with 18. … Morlock and Bojorquez have both posted 11-strikeout games this season — Morlock against Concordia on April 6 and Bojorquez vs. Susquehanna on March 12.
• CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: As a team, Macalester boasts a stellar .343 batting average, going 328-for-957, with 52 doubles, 11 triples, four home runs, 217 runs scored, and have delivered 172 RBIs. The Scots’ pitching staff owns a 3.97 ERA and opponents are hitting .279. … The Scots has racked up 10 or more runs in a game 10 times — all wins. The Scots plated a season-high 15 runs in beating Lawrence 15-5 on March 15. On the flip side, Macalester has allowed its opponents to score 10+ runs three times — including Saint Benedict’s season-high 18 runs in beating the Scots 18-2 on April 14. … Along with their 15 runs, Macalester posted season-highs in hits (17), and RBIs (13) in its 15-5 win over Lawrence on March 15.
