WINONA, Minn. — Last Thursday, the Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team managed just one run in splitting a nonconference doubleheader against UW-La Crosse.

A split that also snapped the Cardinals' season-high 12-game winning streak.

And unfortunately for Augsburg, the Cardinals took out their frustrations on the Auggies last Saturday.

The Cardinals belted three home runs – a solo shot by Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and a two-run shot by Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) in the first game and an inside-the-park, grand slam by Mandy Tschernach (Rice Lake, Wis.) in the second — and finished with eight extra-base hits among their 21 hits in the two games as SMU swept the Auggies, 11-3 and 9-1.

"We came into this (doubleheader) with a little different mindset — we didn't want to wait until the late innings before we got the bats going," said Fennern, whose team is looking to extend their 12-game MIAC winning streak this afternoon against Bethel. 'We wanted to come out and take it to (Augsburg) right away, and for the most part, that's exactly what we did.

"It was a good performance all the way around — we hit the ball well, we played solid defense, and Jenny (Schipp) and Megan (Wallisch) pitched outstanding," continued Fennern, whose team has already locked up an MIAC postseason tournament berth, and remains just a game behind league-leading St. Thomas in the race for the MIAC regular-season title with less than two weeks — and three conference doubleheaders — remaining. "We like the position we are in right now, but we are far from satisfied. We've already locked up a (tournament) berth and we are still in the hunt for the conference title.

"There's still a lot to play for over the next week and a half," continued Fennern. "We've just got to go out and take care of our business — and, hopefully, the rest will take care of itself."