WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team waited almost too long for their offense to come to life in Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against St. Benedict at the SMU Field.

Almost.

The Cardinals, held to just two hits through the first five innings against Blazer pitcher Ani Jordan, erupted for five hits — and more importantly, three runs — in the bottom of the seventh inning as SMU rallied for a 3-1 victory.

And once the Cardinals' bats emerged from their slumber, they weren't about to go back to sleep, as SMU erupted for seven runs in the first inning and cruised to a 9-1, five-inning victory in the nightcap.

"In this conference, every win is big, and to start out 2-0 is great," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern, whose team pushed its winning streak to three straight. "This is a tough conference and every game is going to be a dogfight — every game is important."

The Cardinals had the potential to run their MIAC record to 6-0 last week — but Mother Nature had other ideas, forcing the postponement of SMU's conference games against Carleton and Concordi,a, not to mention a nonconference doubleheader against UW-River Falls.

"After beating St. Ben's, we were excited to keep that momentum rolling," said Fennern. "But that's the way it goes — spring in the Midwest can be pretty unpredictable, you just have to deal with it and be ready to play every day."

SMU certianly was ready to play against St. Benedict — at least for the last seven innings, that is.

The Blazers got on the board first in the opener, scoring an unearned run in the top of the first inning. And with Jordan's pitch selection keeping the Cardinals off balance, that one run was nearly enough.

"You have to give (Jordan) a lot of credit, she pitched a great game and did a nice job of keeping our hitters off balance," said Fennern. "Was I worried (when the Cardinals came to bat in the bottom of the sixth down by a run)? Sure, but I've said all along, with this team — even if there's two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the seventh — we've still got a chance. With our lineup, we're never out of the ballgame.

"We just hung in there, made a few adjustments, and they paid off."

Jen Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) got SMU going in the sixth with a one-out bunt single. Amy Langer (Savage, Minn.) reached on a fielder's choice, forcing Gutterman out at second for the second out. Langer then stole second and scoring on Niki Lynch's (Winona, Minn.) game-tying RBI triple down the right field line. Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) then singled to right to score Lynch, and, after stealing second, scoring on Amy Edge's (Mineral Point, Wis.) RBI double to center.

And the Cardinals picked up right where they left off in Game 2, scoring seven times on just three hits to put the game away early.

"We jumped on (St. Ben's pitcher Lindsey Peterson) right away and just kept at it," said Fennern, whose team finished with 10 hits in the five-inning affair. "It was good to see our offense break out like that."

Not that the Cardinals really needed all that offensive firepower — not with Hanni Lohmann (Lake Elmo, Minn.) on the mound.

Lohmann took a no-hitter into the top of the fifth, only to give up back-to-back singles to open the inning.

"Our pitchers did a nice job," said Fennern of Lohmann, whose finished with a two-hitter, and Jennifer Gonerka (St. Paul, Minn.), who tossed a five-hit complete-game in the opener. "They did their job, and fortunately, they were able to get some offensive support, too."

* THIS AND THAT: The Cardinals have already had seven games 10 games cancelled due to inclement weather. … Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.), Krista Conway (Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Jen Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) all had three hits – including a double — in SMU’s sweep of St. Benedict. … Niki Lynch (Winona, Minn.) belted a game-tying RBI triple in the bottom of the sixth vs. the Blazers, and Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) followed up with a game-winning RBI single. … Hanni Lohmann (Lake Elmo, Minn.) lost her no-hit and shutout bids in the top of the fifth of the Cardinals’ 9-1 Game 2 win vs. St. Ben’s.