Cardinals' Smith sends message that's heard loud and clear in tourney opener

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. Fool me three times … forget about it.

Saint Mary's University senior pitcher Teisha Smith sent a message to to future opposing batters Friday afternoon in Cardinals' opening-round NCAA Division III Regional game against Benedictine — a message that was heard loud and clear.

Smith gave up a solo home run to Benedictine's Michelle Stump — a shot to center field that tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the third inning.

After unintentionally, intentionally walking Stump in the fourth and giving up an infield single off her own glove in the fifth, Smith got one more shot at the Lady Eagle's power hitter in the top of the seventh — with one out, the bases loaded and SMU clinging to a one-run, 5-4 lead.

Pressure? What pressure? Smith promptly struck out Stump, then got Kari Pfeifer to ground out to third to end the game, and earn the Cardinals a berth in today's winner's bracket game against Central at 2 p.m.

"Teisha's a resilient pitcher," said SMU coach John Tschida. "(When Stump came up in the seventh) I expected a weak ground-out or a strikeout, because I knew Teisha was going to make good pitches and wasn't going to give her anything too good to hit."

She didn't.

"I hit my spot (on the home run ball)," said Smith, who had not given up a home run in SMU's last 38 games, dating back to the Cardinals' 3-1 loss to Oklahoma City on March 17. "I thought it was a good pitch, she just turned on it and hit it out.

"(In the seventh) I wanted to make sure that (Stump) hit my pitch," continued Smith, who struck out three and finished with a complete-game eight-hitter. "I just beared down and made sure I hit my spots."

And the rest is history.

o HARD EARNED: Only one of Benedictine's four runs against Smith was earned. In 95 innings this season, the senior right-hander has only allowed six earned runs. Of the 21 Lady Eagle outs, three were by strikeout, two were flyouts to the outfield, and the other 17 were ground-ball outs.

o CIRCUS IN TOWN: The Cardinals' six errors were more than they had committed in their last three games combined and the most in a single game since the Cardinals committed six errors against William College on April 4, 1999.

o FAMILIAR FOE: The Cardinals have faced Central in each of their four regional appearances. SMU lost to the Dutch 1-0 in 1997 and 3-2 in 1998, then knocked Central out of the 1999 regional tournament, winning 4-2 and 3-2.

o TOP HEAVY: Six of SMU's eight hits against Benedictine came from the top three batters in the order, as Ann Munzenmeier, Jennifer Meyer and Jill Hocking all collected two hits. Meyer and Hocking also combined to drive in four of SMU's five runs.