WINONA, Minn. — The phrase "first time since …" has been used a lot when talking about the success of the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team.
• Their 31 wins marked the "first time since" 2005 that the Cardinals reached 30 wins in a season — having gone 37-12 during that 2005 campaign — while their 17-2 to the season was the "first time since" 1997 that SMU had opened a year with 17 wins in their first 19 games.
• SMU's regular-season conference title marked the "first time since" 2001 that the Cardinals captured the conference's regular-season crown.
• Saint Mary's was ranked No. 25 in the NFCA Top 25, marking the "first time since" 2006 that SMU appeared in the national poll.
• And Saturday afternoon, the Cardinals added another "first time since," claiming their first MIAC Playoff title since … ever.
Saint Mary's erupted for four first-inning runs — thanks in part to back-to-back home runs from
Heather Nordlund (Byron, Minn.) and
Ali French (Winona, Minn.) — and never relinquished the lead in dealing Bethel a 6-5 setback in the MIAC Playoff championship game and earn SMU its first-ever playoff title.
With the win, the Cardinals improved to 31-9 overall — and earned the conference's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Tournament. SMU will learn who, when, and where it will open NCAA play on Monday during the 10 a.m. NCAA Selection Show.
If the Cardinals were feeling any title-game nerves against Bethel and its All-American pitcher Kayla Simacek, they certainly didn't show it.
In fact, Saint Mary's opened the winner-take-all game like seasoned veterans, tagging Simacek for four runs, including a two-run home run by Nordlund — her second two-run round-tripper of the day, having also belted a two-run HR in SMU's 3-1 win over Gustavus in the semifinals — and a solo shot by French on the very next pitch gave the Cardinals a 4-0 cushion after one inning.
Unfazed by the four-run deficit, Bethel began chipping away at the SMU lead in the third, tagging SMU starting pitcher
Makayla Steffes (Winona, Minn.) for three hits, while also taking advantage of a pair of Cardinals errors to claw within one, 4-3.
Saint Mary's took a page out of the Royals' handbook in the bottom of the third, using two hits and two BU miscues to score twice and extend its lead to 6-3.
Megan McGinnis (Appleton, Wis.) and French collected SMU's two third-inning hits, while pinch runner
Michelle Doering and McGinnis scored the two runs — both coming around to score on the Royals' second error on French's single to center.
Bethel picked up three hits off Steffes in the fourth, but were unable to scratch across a run, but the Cardinal freshman right-hander wasn't able to escape unscathed in the fifth. BU loaded the bases with no one out on back-to-back singles and a walk. Cortney Hokanson singled to left to score the Royals' first run of the inning, and, Kayla Hokanson drove in run No. 2 on an RBI groundout to get BU back within one, 6-5.
That, however, would be as close as the Royals would get, as
Naleya Bork (De Pere, Wis.) came on in relief of Steffes and as the sophomore allowed just one hit in three innings of relief to earn her first save — and punch SMU's ticket to the NCAA national tournament.
French finished 3-for-3 and McGinnis added a 2-for-3 effort to lead the Cardinals' offensive attack.
Peyton Berg (Chatfield, Minn.), Nordlund, and
Abbie Stigler (Menomonee Falls, Wis.) also collected hits, while Steffes picked up her second pitching win of the day, surrendering five runs — only two of which were earned — on 10 hits, while striking out two.
