WINONA, Minn. — With their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title hopes dashed, and any hopes of receiving an NCAA tournament berth long forgotten, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team had little left to play for when they closed out their season Wednesday afternoon against Macalester.

But don't tell that to the Cardinals.

Bound and determined to close out this topsy-turvy, up-and-down rollercoaster season on a high note, the Cardinals flexed their muscles, loaded up their bats — and took out their frustrations on the Scots.

SMU banged out 15 hits, including multiple-hit games from six different players, and got a one-hit pitching performance from Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) en route to a 13-0 victory in Game 1. In the nightcap, the Cardinals continued to pour it on, scoring a season-high 21 runs in a 21-3 victory.

"We needed to end our season the way we did," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern, whose Cardinals closed out their year with a 21-13 overall mark and their second straight 16-6 MIAC finish. "It was important for us to go out on a positive note, it was important for us to go out on a classy note, and it was important for us to give our seniors a chance to end their collegiate careers in the most positive way possible."

Just what kind of ride have the Cardinals been on this season? In the past five days, SMU has played in four doubleheaders — getting swept by St. Thomas 10-6 and 6-1, sweeping Carleton 4-0 and 11-1, getting swept by UW-La Crosse 2-1 and 3-1, then sweeping Macalester in its season finale.

"It was a wild ride, that's for sure," admitted Fennern. "We had a lot of great, great performances throughout the year, but our biggest downfall this year, and the key to our success next year, is we have to have a more consistent mental approach.

"Physically, we were as talented as anyone in the conference — but mentally, we weren't always as sharp as we needed to be."

In other words, when the Cardinals were good, they were very, very good, but when they were been bad ….

In their final against Macalester, the Cardinals were good — very, very good.

Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.) led the Cardinals' offensive onslaught in the opener, going 3-for-4, while Schipp, Niki Lynch (Winona, Minn.), Amy Langer (Savage, Minn.), Amy Lang (Oshkosh, Wis.) and Gina Rizzardi (Woodbury, Minn.) all finished with two hits.

The Cardinals broke open a 1-0 game in the fourth inning, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring six runs on six hits. Far from finished, SMU plated another six runs in the top of the fifth to ice the win.

Schipp's bid for her first collegiate no-hitter was thwarted in the bottom of the fifth, when Meghan Pederson delivered a single.

It was more of the same in the second game, sort of.

SMU jumped out to a 3-0 lead after its first at-bat, but the Scots came right back to score three runs of their own to tie the game 3-3.

Unfortunately for the Scots, all that did was make the Cardinals mad.

And Macalester learned the hard way what happens when the Cardinals get mad.

SMU erupted for 14 runs in the second inning — yes, 14 — to leave little doubt of the outcome. The Cardinals sent 17 batters to the plate in the second inning, with eight of the nine players in the batting order getting at least one hit — in the inning.

Lynch who finished the game 3-for-4 with five RBIs and three runs scored, belted a pair of triples in the second, the first a bases-loaded shot, while Edge delivered a three-run home run and Reghan Cahanes (Woodbury, Minn.) added a two-run double.

The Cardinals added four more runs in the third inning, two coming on Jennifer Gonerka's (St. Paul, Minn.) home run.

"I think everyone's a little disappointed in not making it back to the regional," Fennern said. "But, hopefully, that disappointment will help motivate them over the summer, and when we get back together next year, we'll be that much more determined to get the job done."

* THIS AND THAT: SMU's 21 runs, 18 hits, 19 RBIs, four triples, two home runs and 35 total bases in its 21-3 rout of Macalester were all team season-highs. … On an individual basis, Niki Lynch (Winona, Minn.) posted team-highs for triples (2), runs (4), RBIs (5) and total bases (8) in that game. … Lynch had at least one hit in SMU's four games last week, and closed out the season with a team-best 11-game hitting streak. … Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.) finished the season as the team's offensive leader in batting average (.390), RBIs (26) and home runs (2), while Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) led the team in runs (28), hits (40), doubles (11), total bases (66) and slugging percentage. … Edge led the team with eight multiple-RBI games, while Amy Langer (Savage, Minn.) boasted 13 multiple-RBI games. … Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) tossed her first collegiate one-hitter in SMU's 13-0 win over Macalester in Game 1 last Wednesday. She carried a no-hitter into the bottom of the fifth, before giving up her only hit. … Jennifer Gonerka (St. Paul, Minn.) and Hanni Lohmann (Lake Elmo, Minn.) were the team's workhorses on the mound, logging 83.2 and 82.0 IP, respectively. Lohmann boasted a 2.05 ERA and a 7-6 record, while Gonerka finished with a 2.09 ERA and a 10-5 record, while also striking out a team-high 52 batters. … SMU outscored its opponents in every inning but the eighth, including 110-39 in the game's first three innings combined.