It wasn't pretty, but Cardinals open
regional tournament with 5-4 victory

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The timing could not have been any worse.

The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team picked a rather inopportune time to turn in its worst performance of the season, as the Cardinals committed six errors — yes, six errors — in their opening-round game of the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional against Benedictine Friday afternoon.

Yet, despite all the misplayed ground balls, botched throws and, not to mention all the mental lapses, the Cardinals still found a way to do what they do best — win.

Fueled by the clutch pitching of Teisha Smith and a game-winning RBI single by Jennifer Meyer in the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinals slipped past Benedictine 5-4 at the Coe College Softball Field.

"That was by far our worst performance this year, and probably the worst game we've played in my six years as head coach," said SMU coach John Tschida. "That's the negative. The positive is that, despite playing that poorly, we were able to win the game."

In other words, it certainly wasn't pretty, but a win's a win.

"Everyone was a little nervous early on and it just snowballed," explained SMU junior Jill Hocking, who collected a pair of hits and drove in two runs from the No. 3 spot in the batting order. "We'd make a mistake (in the field) and we weren't able to shake it off. We let it affect us and things just go worse."

The Cardinals showed their tournament jitters early — and often — committing a pair of errors in the top half of the first inning. Smith, however, bailed SMU out, getting a strikeout and ground out to end the Lady Eagles first-inning threat.

SMU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, as Ann Munzenmeier opened the game with an infield single, moved to second on an infield ground out, and scored on the first of Hocking's two RBI singles.

Benedictine knotted the game at one in the third when first baseman Michelle Stump belted a Smith offering over the centerfield fence for a one-out home run.

"I thought I made a good pitch," said Smith, who finished with a complete-game eight-hitter. "It was right where I wanted it, she just turned on it and hit it out."

The Cardinals regained the lead with a pair of runs in the fourth — one on a Benedictine error and the other on a Meyer single — but the SMU defense would falter again in the top of the fifth as two more Cardinal errors (their fourth and fifth in the first five innings) led to three Lady Eagle runs as Benedictine took a 4-3 advantage.

"I wouldn't say I was worried, because I knew what our offense was capable of," said Tschida, whose team has now won 10 straight and improved to 34-6 overall. "But my heart jumped a little every time (Benedictine) hit a ground ball. We started a lot of young people (including three freshmen and only three players who are playing the same position they played a year ago), but that's no excuse. The other team doesn't care how many inexperienced players you've got. They just want to beat you."

And the Lady Eagles almost did just that.

Almost.

The Cardinals pulled even in the bottom of the fifth as Angie Wright led off with a walk, stole second and scored on a single to center by Jackie Huegel.

"We got some key hits," Tschida said. "I thought we swung the bats pretty well. We just didn't play up to our standards defensively."

Neither did the Lady Eagles, who committed three errors themselves, including a key fielding error by second baseman Colleen McNicholas that allowed SMU's Jennifer Miller to reach base to lead off the bottom of the sixth. A Munzenmeier single moved Miller to third, where she scored on Meyer's second RBI single to center.

Benedictine threatened in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with one out, but Smith got Stump to strikeout and Kari Pfeifer to ground out to third to end the game.

"We kept battling the whole way," admitted Tschida, whose team will now face the tournament's other unbeaten team, Central, this afternoon at 2 p.m. "You can learn a lot from a game like this. We can't hang our heads and pout about how poorly we played. I know we are a better team than we showed today, and everyone of the ladies on this team knows we are a better team than we showed today.

"Now we've got to come out (today) and prove it."