The Teams
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0 MIAC, 6-4 Overall)
vs.
St. Thomas Tommies (0-0 MIAC, 12-4 Overall)
The Vitals
Wednesday, April 4 • SMU Field • 4 p.m.
Last Action
The Cardinals are coming off a pair of one-run losses to NCAA Division II Winona State Monday. SMU dropped the opening game 1-0, then failed to hold a two-run sixth-inning lead in falling 5-4 in 9 innings in the nightcap. St. Thomas, meanwhile, had its season-high five-game winning streak snapped with a 5-0 loss to Wartburg in the second game of a nonconference doubleheader last Saturday.
Last Meeting
SMU split its conference series with the Tommies a year ago, as both teams posted 1-0 victories. The Cardinals won the opener 1-0 on Jackie Huegel’s (Alta Vista, Iowa) first-inning RBI single. St. Thomas earned the split behind the one-hit pitching of Casey Curson.
Conference Standings
Through Tuesday, April 3, 2001
Cardinal Update
All three of SMU’s losses during their current three-game losing streak — the Cardinals’ longest such streak since the 1996 season — have been by one run, including two decided in extra innings. … Jennifer Meyer holds the team lead in average (.452), hits (14), doubles (3) and stolen bases (5-for-7). … Jill Hocking hit the team’s first home run vs. Winona State and leads the team with 8 RBIs.
Tommie Update
UST ended the Cardinals’ three-year reign as MIAC champs a year ago, finishing with a 21-1 conference record, one game ahead of SMU’s 20-2 mark. … UST is batting .356 as a team, led by Avery Heidenreich, who leads the team in average (.583), runs (20), hits (21) and slugging percentage (.861). … The Tommie pitching staff, led by Stacy Tamble (1.22 ERA, 39 Ks) and Casey Curson (2.64, 21), has allowed just 16 earned runs in 87 innings.
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CARDINAL PROFILEJill Hocking
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Cardinals eager to kick MIAC season
off on the right foot against St. Thomas
WINONA, Minn. — For all the rotten things that Mother Nature has done to the Saint Mary’s University fastpitch softball team this spring – most notably her decision to allow Old Man Winter an extended Midwestern stay — the Cardinals finally found a silver lining in what has been a rather gloomy first month of the season.
With snow still blanketing the home field of St. Thomas — and nary a speck of the dreaded white stuff on SMU’s home turf — the Cardinals were more than willing to open the conference season as gracious hosts, rather than as road-weary guests.
And when your conference-opening opponent is the defending MIAC champs, the Cardinals will take any little advantage they can get.
“It’s always nice to play on your home field,” admitted SMU coach Nikki Fennern. “But the way the weather’s been this spring, we’re just happy to be able to be playing anywhere.”
After nearly a two-week layoff, the Cardinals finally returned to action Monday, dropping a pair of one-run games to cross-town rival Winona State.
It wasn’t exactly the final tune-up Fennern was hoping for heading into today’s conference opener, but it wasn’t the end of the world, either.
“I didn’t think we played all that poorly,” admitted Fennern, whose team lost 1-0 in the opener against the Warriors, then couldn’t hold a two-run, sixth-inning lead in the nightcap, losing 5-4 in nine innings. “We hit the ball hard, but it always seemed to be right at someone. I told the team after the game that if we hit like that (against St. Thomas), and clean up our defensive play, we’ll be just fine.”
The Cardinals will need to be at their best against the Tommies, who are led by former SMU head coach John Tschida, and come into the game having won five of their last six games.
“It should be a challenge,” Fennern said. “Obviously, John is one of the best coaches in the nation, and it will be fun to match wits with him. As for the team, we need to make sure we approach this game just like we approach every other game. They can’t get too caught up in the fact that they are playing against their old coach, or any of that. We just have to go out and play the way we are capable of playing.”
Besides, playing against their old mentor should make things that much easier for the Cardinals, right?
“Everyone thinks that St. Thomas should have the upper hand because John knows so much about our players,” explained Fennern. “But that rationale of thinking works both ways. Our players know as much about John and his tendencies as he does about them.
“I don’t think there’s any extra pressure on us,” Fennern added. “It’s just another game and it should be a lot of fun.”