WAVERLY, Iowa — Despite this being her first-ever NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament as a head coach, Saint Mary's University's Nikki Fennern was a picture of calm, cool and collected as her Cardinals prepared for their first-round showdown with MIAC rival St. Thomas.

And, as each scoreless inning passed, Fennern's demeanor never wavered.

Why should it?

When you've got seniors like Jill Hocking (Apple Valley, Minn.) and Niki Lynch (Winona, Minn.) leading the way, it's just a matter of time before the Cardinals make something happen.

And nine times out of 10, that something is good — very good.

"You can't make any mistakes against them," said St. Thomas coach John Tschida, whose Tommies did just that in the seventh inning of Friday's 1-0 loss to the Cardinals, as SMU turned a lead-off error into the game's only run in winning its eighth straight post-season game. "Weknew coming in that this game was going to come down to which team made a mistake, and which team capitalized on it."

In the top of the fourth, the Cardinals did (make a tactical mistake) — and the Tommies didn't (capitalize).

Hocking surrendered a one-walk walk to No. 3 hitter Becky Hilgert, then gave up back-to-back singles to Heather Martin and Casey Curson to load the bases. Unfazed by the Tommie uprising, Hocking followed her coach's lead — remaining calm in a pressure-packed situation — and quickly got a strikeout and a flyout to end what would be the Tommies' only serious threat off the senior righthander.

"That inning was a huge momentum-swinger," said Fennern. "Getting out of that inning wthout giving up a run was a tremendous boost for us. I wasn't worried about us scoring — we were hitting their pitcher (Curson) hard, the shots just weren't finding the holes. I knew it was only a matter of time, we just had to stay patient at the plate, and continue to play air-tight defense."

And in the pivotal seventh, the tables were turned, as the Tommies did (make a mistake) — and the Cardinals did (capitalize).

Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) led off the inning with a routine grounder that UST shortstop Shannon Moore couldn't handle. Annie Hovde (Cottage Grove, Minn.) sacrificed Huegel to second, and, with one swing of the bat, Lynch made the Tommies pay the ultimate price for their miscue, lacing a one-strike double to left-center to score Huegel with the game's only run.

"We approached this game just like we approach every game — just play inning-by-inning," said Lynch. "We knew that if we were patient and just kept going that sooner or later we'd get the job done. If I didn't (get the game-winning hit in the seventh), someone else would the next inning, or the inning after that."

• NEXT UP: The Cardinals will now face top-seeded Wartburg Saturday at 10 a.m. The Knights locked up the Iowa Conference's automatic berth into the Midwest Regional — Wartburg's first-ever national tournament appearance — with split of their regular-season ending series with Simpson. St. Thomas is the lone common opponent — with both SMU and Wartburg splitting their regular-season doubleheaders vs. the Tommies. … Stephanie Rasmussen tossed a complete-game five-hitter in Wartburg's 4-0 win over Marian in its tournament opener on Friday.