WINONA, Minn. — With four games remaining in the regular season, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team was on the cusp of collecting its second straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoff invitation.
 
Two wins in those last four games, and the Cardinals would once again be extended one of the conference's six post-season invites.
 
And two wins is exactly what the Cardinals collected Saturday afternoon at the SMU Field — sweeping the Auggies 7-4 and 8-0 in six innings.
 
GAME 1: SAINT MARY'S 7, AUGSBURG 4
After setting the Auggies down in order to kick things off, the Cardinals offense was very opportunistic in their first at-bat, taking advantage of two Auggie throwing errors to score a pair of runs and grab the early 2-0 lead.
 
Saint Mary's utilized a little bit of everything to plate four more runs in the second, getting a run-scoring triple from Lizzie Pike (Rochester, Minn.) and a two-run double off the bat of Makayla Steffes (Winona, Minn.), before taking on run No. 4 of the frame on Augsburg's third throwing error of the afternoon.
 
Augsburg tore a page out of the Cardinals' playbook in the third, scoring two runs on a Saint Mary's throwing error to cut the SMU lead to four, 6-2, only to have the Cardinals get one of those runs back in the fourth — thanks to an infield single by Pike to score pinch-runner Karli Zetah (Goodhue, Minn.) from third with SMU's seventh run of the game.
 
The Auggies put together their second two-run inning of the game in the fifth, parlaying three hits and a pair of walks — all with two outs — to claw within three, 7-4. Steffes escaped without any more damage, getting Augsburg's Morgan Paaske to strike out looking with the bases loaded.
 
That, however, would be as close as the Auggies would get, as Steffes set Augsburg down in order in both the sixth and seventh innings to collect the complete-game victory.
 
Along with her stellar effort in the circle, Steffes also led the Cardinal offense, going 3-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBIs, while Emily Bonk (Hudson, Wis.) chipped in a pair of hits.
 
GAME 2: SAINT MARY'S 8, AUGSBURG 0 (6 innings)
The Cardinals came out swinging in the nightcap, scoring three runs in their very first at-bat. Megan McGinnis (Appleton, Wis.) reached on a one-out Auggie throwing error and moved to second on a walk to Naleya Bork (De Pere, Wis.), and the two came around to score on Peyton Berg's three-run bomb to right-center to give Saint Mary's a 3-0 cushion.
 
Saint Mary's capitalized on Augsburg's second error of the game — this one on a misplay on a Steffes double that allowed Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) to score — extending the SMU lead to 4-0 after two innings.
 
And while a hefty wind was blowing in from centerfield, it had no effect on the Cardinals' bats, as Nordlund followed Berg's example, crushing SMU's second home run of the game — a two-run blast to center — to push SMU's lead to 6-0.
 
Augsburg threatened in the top of the sixth, loading the bases on a single and back-to-back walks — all with two outs. Bork, however, came on in relief of starter Kenzie Gatz and struck out Paaske to end the threat.
 
The Cardinals followed by cutting the game one inning short, getting a Berg RBI single — her third of the game — with one out to complete the eight-run, 8-0 victory.
 
Berg closed out the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs, while Steffes, Bork, Nordlund, Ali French (Winona, Minn.), and Gabrielle Grover (Mantorville, Minn.) accounting for the Cardinals' other five hits, while Gatz picked up the pitching win, blanking the Auggies on three hits, while walking three and striking out four in 5 2/3 innings.
 
The Cardinals (15-5 MIAC, 27-9 overall) are right back in action on their home diamond at Saint Mary's Field on Sunday, playing host to Hamline in a 1 p.m., MIAC doubleheader.
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