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2004 Record: 13-9 MIAC / 21-15 Overall
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| Last Week's Results: April 21: Saint Mary's 8, Augsburg 0 / Details April 21: Saint Mary's 8, Augsburg 0 / Details April 22: Saint Mary's 4, UW-Eau Claire 0 / Details April 22: UW-Eau Claire 5, Saint Mary's 1 / Details April 24: Saint Mary's 3, Bethel 0 / Details April 24: Bethel 6, Saint Mary's 4 / Details April 25: Saint Mary's 8, Macalester 1 / Details April 25: Macalester 5, Saint Mary's 4 / Details |
| Upcoming Games: April 27: UW-La Crosse. 4 p.m. |
| This and That: Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) tossed her first career perfect game in SMU's 8-0 Game 1 win vs. Augsburg last Wednesday. Schipp struck out a career-high 13, and allowed just five balls to be put in play, all groundouts. … Schipp extended her hitless string to 11 2/3, before UW-Eau Claire got its lone hit in the bottom of the sixth inning of SMU's 4-0 win last Thursday. … After her perfect game, Schipp tossed back-to-back one-hitters vs. UW-Eau Claire and Bethel. … For the week, Schipp boasted a 4-0 record and a 0.28 ERA, allowing just eight hits and one earned run in 32.1 innings. … Hanni Lohmann (Lake Elmo, Minn.) followed Schipp's performance vs. the Auggies with her first career one-hitter in Game 2, allowing just a fourth-inning infield single. … Krista Conway (Mendota Heights, Minn.) went 4-for-7 (.571) with a doubles and a triple in SMU split vs. Macalester. … Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) had four extra-base hits among her 11 hits last week, including two doubles, her team-leading eighth triple — a new single-season school record — and her third home run, which also ties for the team lead. … Gutterman and Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.) each drove in six runs last week. … Gutterman has had 15 multiple-hit games this season, while Edge has had a team-best 10 games in which she's had two or more RBIs. … SMU's 5-1 loss to UW-Eau Claire last Thursday snapped the Cardinals' season-high seven-game winning streak. |
end to SMU's hopes of getting MIAC post-season invite
WINONA, Minn. — Heading into their final four Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team had high hopes of being one of the four teams taking part in the inaugural MIAC post-season tournament.
After all, thanks to a six-game MIAC winning streak, all the Cardinals needed to do to all but assure themselves a post-season invitation was sweep their final two conference series — last Saturday against Bethel and Sunday against Macalester.
Easier said than done.
After beating the Royals 3-0 behind a second straight one-hitter by pitcher Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.), SMU gave up four first-inning runs and never recovered in dropping the second game of its doubleheader against Bethel, 6-4.
"It was like everything that could go wrong did in that first inning," said SMU coach Nikki Fennern. "We've been faced with must-win situations for two weeks now, so I don't think there was any more pressure on us (Saturday). I was proud of the way we battled back, we just ran out of time."
Down, but not out, the Cardinals' playoff hopes then hinged on a sweep of Macalester — and a little help from St. Benedict in its twinbill against Gustavus. An SMU sweep, and a Blazer sweep, and SMU still had a chance.
Easier said than done.
Macalester scored three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth in handing the Cardinals a 5-4 setback in the second game of Sunday's doubleheader, officially ending SMU's playoff run.
"It was a tough weekend," admitted Fennern, whose team will now close out its season Tuesday, playing host to UW-La Crosse. "We needed to catch a few breaks, and we didn't. It's not that we played that poorly (in the second game of both doubleheaders), we just weren't quite as sharp as we were in the first games."
The Cardinals got things off on the right foot Sunday, scoring a pair of unearned runs in the first, four more in the second and two in the sixth in routing the Scots 8-1 in the opener.
Game 2, however, was another story.
SMU grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on an RBI single by Hanni Lohmann (Lake Elmo, Minn.), but Macalester grabbed the lead for good in the third, scoring three runs on three hits. The Cardinals got one run back in the top of the fifth, but Macalester responded with two in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-2 advantage.
The Cardinals (13-9 MIAC, 21-15 overall) cut into the Scots' lead with an unearned run in the sixth, then got within one on an RBI double by Schipp, but the SMU sophomore was stranded at second when Krista Conway (Mendota Heights, Minn.) struck out.