WINONA, Minn. – The 2026 Saint Mary's softball season has come to an end. The Cardinals were defeated by the Simpson Storm (39-6) 8-5 Friday afternoon in game two of the NCAA DIII Softball Super Regional.
The Cardinals lost to the Storm in Thursday's opening game and needed a game two win earlier today in order to push for another game, but the team could not come shut down the heavy hitters that were the Storm.
Storm came away with another early lead, 2-0, in the opening frame.
Things started to pull away from the Cardinals as a detrimental second inning that scored five Simpson runs put the Cardinals down 7-0. The Cardinals were digging themselves out of the hole all game.
The Cardinals started to get a bit of momentum and felt a shift when they shutout the Storm for the first time this regional and scored four runs in the fourth to cut the deficit to four. The first three batters for the Cardinals all singled to load the bases early without an out, Peyton Berg, Megan McGinnis, and Abbie Stigler each awaited a return home.
The Cardinal pinch hitters were fantastic, Samya Brown had a two run RBI double to finally put the Cardinals on the board before Breonna Methner stepped up to the plate and sent one down the middle to score another.
Just as the Cardinals felt like they were gaining some momentum back by holding the Storm scoreless for four innings, a home run by the Storms Brielyn Ginnaty silenced them.
Facing elimination, the Cardinals were able to score one in the bottom of the seventh when Karli Zetah was walked and stole second before Makalya Steffes brought her home. It was the pitching staff of the Storm that was able to keep the Cardinals below their average of hits.
Olivia Poulin, the Winona native, came in as relief and was a key piece at giving the Cardinals life. She pitched over five innings, and struck out two for just three hits the remainder of the game, all a career best.
"We were cooking in the last few innings," said senior shortstop Stigler. "I would just like to think that we ran out of time and came up short this weekend."
"You have to have good people to win," said head softball coach John Tschida. "To be where we are at with the chance to go to the World Series two years in a row, it's amazing to think of how far we have come."
Tschida touched on how fun this group of seniors were for his program.
A group that has helped the Cardinals have three consecutive seasons with thirty-plus wins, something that had not been done since the 1999-2001 season.
The Cardinals finished the year second in the conference with a 40-9 overall record, 20-2 in conference, while hosting both the two biggest regionals for a second consecutive year.Â
