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| 2005 Record: 19-3 MIAC / 37-12 Overall |
 For Complete Regional Tournament Details / click here |
| This and That: SMU's Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) was named to the Louisville Slugger/NFCA All-Region Second Team, while teammates Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) and Amy Edge (Montfort, Wis.) were third-team selections. … Gutterman, Schipp and Edge were all First-Team All-MIAC picks, while Edge was also named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District V team. … SMU's third-place finish at the NCAA Seed 1 Regional was its first NCAA postseason appearance since 2001, when the Cardinals placed fourth in the NCAA World Series. … The Cardinals' 37 wins were the most since 2000, when SMU went 40-6 en route to its first-ever NCAA national championship. … Edge hit a team-leading .563, with two doubles, two HRs and a 1.063 slugging percentage during SMU's five regional tournament games. She also picked off four base runners. … For the season, Gutterman was the team's offensive spark plug all season, leading the Cardinals in virtually every offensive category from the lead-off spot. Gutterman hit a team-leading .369, while also boasting team-highs in runs (33), hits (62), triples (2) on-base percentage (.427) and stolen bases (27). Her 49 games played and 168 at-bats were single-season records, while her 62 hits rank second to Jen Garins' school-record 72 hits in 1997. She also had 21 muiltiple-hit games and boasted a season-best nine-game hitting streak. … Schipp boasted a team-leading 1.80 earned-run-average and a 25-7 record in 35 pitching appearances. She threw 179 innings, allowing just 46 earned runs, while walking 55 and striking out 190. Schipp's 25 wins, 179 innings and nine shutouts are all single-season records, while her 190 strikeouts are a career-high and rank No. 2 all-time behind Kelly King's 286 in 1997. … Edge led the team in home runs with seven, ranking her second all-time, while also posting a team-best .582 slugging percentage and picking off a record 12 base runners. … Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) was the team-leader in RBIs wh 37 and posted nine multiple-RBI games. … SMU finished the season unbeaten when leading after three innings (24-0) and were 27-2 when committing one error or less. … The Cardinals put together winning streaks of 13 and seven, and never lost more than two games in a row. |
put together memorable ride at NCAA regional tournament
WINONA, Minn. — When Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball coach Nikki Fennern arrived at the field last Sunday morning, she had this uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach — and it had nothing to do with the fact that she was seven months pregnant.
This was a feeling of deja vu — NCAA softball style.
For the second time in three days, the Cardinals squared off against Fontbonne, this time in an elimination game of the NCAA Division III Seed 1 Regional Tournament. And, after bouncing the Griffins — again — with an 11-3, six-inning win, the Cardinals found themselves staring across the diamond at top-ranked Washington University.
Again.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, this sequel followed the same script as the original — and neither had a happy ending, as the Bears put an end to SMU's postseason run, ousting Saint Mary's 6-1
"I told the team after the game that it's always tough to end the season on a loss like that," ssaid SMU coach Nikki Fennern, whose team had opened tournament play with a 5-2 wn over Fontbonne and a 1-0 loss to Washington University, before beating UW-Stout 9-3 with three runs in the top of the seventh and six in the top of the eighth. "But when you consider there are more than 340 teams in the nation who would have killed to trade places with us, that makes the loss a little easier to take."
The Bears, who beat SMU 1-0 behind Laurel Sagartz's one-hitter in Saturday's first game, got an even better performance from their junior pitcher in the rematch, as Sagartz was perfect through five innings, before giving way to reliever Victoria Ramsey in the top of the sixth.
SMU got a lead-off double by Tara Close (North St. Paul, Minn.) to snap the perfect game in the top of the sixth, then loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh, but a home-to-first double play and a grounder to first ended the threat — and the Cardinals' season.
"We hit the ball so well (against Fontbonne), we just weren't able to get that same type of rhythm (against Washington U.)," said Fennern, whose team banged out 14 hits — including a 4-for-4 performance from Amy Edge (Montfort, Wis.), a 3-for-4 effort from Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) and a 2-for-4, 4-RBI outburst from Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) — in their rout of Fontbonne. "(WU) is the top-ranked team in the natoin for a reason — they are a very good team, and they proved it today."
The Cardinals, who received one of the nation's two at-large berths to earn a spot in the regional tournament, certainly turned a few heads during their 3-2 tournament run.
"I'm very proud of the things this team has accomplished this season," said Fennern, whose team closed out its season with a 37-12 record — marking the most wins by an SMU team since the Cardinals went 40-6 in winning the 2000 national championship. "It hurts a bit right now, but hopefully in a couple of weeks, everyone will be able to sit back and feel happy about what we've accomplished."
Happy, but not satisfied.
"There's always room for improvement," Fennern said. "We made great strides this season — but we can't be satisifed, we've still got a ways to go."