SMU Fastpitch Softball

How TheyGot Here

The Cardinals captured a share of their fourth Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in the last five years, finishing tied with St. Thomas atop the conference heap at 20-2. With the conference's automatic berth in hand, SMU swept through the Midwest Regional in Waverly, Iowa, beating co-MIAC champion St. Thomas 1-0 in the opener, then sweeping a pair of games from host Wartburg, winning 8-3 and 1-0.

Pre-TournamentNotes

The Cardinals are making their second straight NCAA national tournament final appearance, having captured the school's first-ever fastpitch national crown a year ago with a 5-0 victory over Chapman. … The Cardinals enter national tournament play on a 10-game post-season winning streak — having gone 7-0 in last year's post-season and 3-0 thus far this year. … SMU landed six players — Jennifer Gonerka (St. Paul, Minn.), Jill Hocking (Apple Valley, Minn.), Niki Lynch (St. Paul, Minn.), Gina Rizzardi (Woodbury, Minn.), Ann Munzenmaier (Urbandale, Iowa) and Jennifer Meyer (Oconomowoc, Wis.) — on this year's Midwest Regional all-tournament team. … Eight of SMU's nine starters played in last year's national tournament. … Hocking has been the Cardinals' offensive leader all season as the three-time All-American and four-time All-MIAC and All-Midwest Region first-team boasts a .400 batting average, while also leading the team in hits (51), doubles (12), triples (5), home runs (4), RBIs (42), total bases (85), slugging percentage (.733) and on-base percentage (.511). She is also 17-5 with a 0.57 ERA and a career-high 120 strikeouts in 134 innings pitched. … Gonerka enters her first national tournament with a 0.84 ERA and a 15-1 record. The sophomore is unbeaten in her last 12 decisions. … Meyer, Jennifer Miller (Winona, Minn.), Laura Miller (White Bear Lake, Minn.) and Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) were all named to the national tournament all-tournament team a year ago. … As a team, the Cardinals are hitting .333 — with eight of their nine starters hitting at least .313. … SMU catcher Jennifer Miller has thrown out 11 of 25 potential base stealers, while the Cardinals, led by Meyer (20-for-25) have stolen 54 bases this season. … The Cardinals have won six straight and 28 of their last 29. … SMU's longest winning streak of the season was 22 games, and their longest losing streak was four. … Munzenmaier, who had at least one hit in all three regional games, enters the antional tournament with a team-leading six-game hitting streak, while Meyer has hit safely in five games. … Hocking is the team leader in multiple-hit games (18) and multiple-RBI games (14) … SMU is 19-0 in games decided by five or more runs and 8-5 in games decided by two or fewer runs.