WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team flexed its muscles in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against St. Scholastica Saturday afternoon.
Literally.
The Cardinals hammered out five home runs — and scored a combined 21 runs — in cruising to a 10-2, five-inning win in Game 1 and an 11-3, six-inning victory in the nightcap.
GAME 1: SAINT MARY'S 10, ST. SCHOLASTICA 2
St. Scholastica put the Cardinals in an early hole, tagging SMU starter
Makayla Steffes (Winona, Minn.) for a pair of runs in the top of the first inning.
Unfazed, the Cardinals answered with four runs on four hits — including an RBI single by
Naleya Bork (De Pere, Wis.) and a two-run, stand-up triple by
Megan McGinnis (Appleton, Wis.) — in their first look at CSS starting pitcher Haley Rosenthal to put Saint Mary's in front 4-2.
And the Cardinals were just getting warmed up.
Steffes opened the Saint Mary's second with a one-0out double — her second in as many plate appearances —
Breonna Methner (Woodbury, Minn.) followed with a walk, and both scored on
Ali French's (Winona, Minn.) double down the left field line.
Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.) delivered a double of her own to score French, and just like that, SMU was leading 7-2.
Emily Bonk (Hudson, Wis.),
Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.), and Bork did their part to keep the SMU offense chugging along, each launching solo home runs — Bonk in the third, and Nordlund and Bork back-to-back in the fourth — to seal the five-inning, 10-2 victory.
Steffes, Nordlund, Bork, and McGinnis all finished with two hits for the Cardinals, who also got two-RBI efforts from Bork, McGinnis, and French. Steffes improved to 8-1 in the pitcher's circle, limiting the Saints to just four hits — including just two after the first inning — while walking three and striking out four.
GAME 2: SAINT MARY'S 11, ST. SCHOLASTICA 3
After scoring two runs in their first at-bat in the opener, the Saints did that one better in the nightcap, banging out five hits — and scoring three runs — in the top of the first.
And just like in Game 1, that would be the extent of the Saints' offense.
SMU answered CSS's three-run first with one run in the bottom of the opening frame, when Steffes blasted Saints' pitcher Ashley Majteka's first pitch into the scoreboard in dead center to claw to within two, 3-1, and knotted the game at 3-3 with their second HR of the game — and fifth of the day — when Berg launched a towering blast to left-center in the bottom of the third.
Saint Mary's then took the lead for good in the fourth — with an assist from the Scots — as the Cardinals loaded the bases with two outs, and scored three runs on a pair of Macalester errors to give the Cardinals a three-run cushion, 6-3.
SMU loaded the bases again in the bottom of the fifth on a walk to Bork and back-to-back singles by Bonk and
Allison Ciero (Glen Ellyn, Ill.), and
Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) induced a one-out walk to score Bork with the Cardinals' seventh run of the game.
The Cardinals sealed the Game 2 win — and the sweep — with a four-run sixth inning, capped by a walk-off single by Stigler to complete the 11-3 victory.
Stigler was a perfect 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs, while Berg, Bonk, and Ciero all chipped in two runs. Bork collected the pitching win, tossing four innings of shutout ball, scattering four hits, while walking one and striking out three.
The Cardinals (4-0 MIAC, 16-2 overall) — winners of five straight — are back in action on Monday, when they kick off a three-doubleheaders-in-three-days stretch, heading to Northfield, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. MIAC twinbill against Carleton. SMU will then host Gustavus for two at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, before heading to La Crosse, Wis., for a 2:30 p.m. nonconference DH against UW-La Crosse the following afternoon.
