WAVERLY, Iowa — With the busy spring the Saint Mary’s University fastpitch softball team has had, the Cardinals haven’t exactly had much of a chance to get in on the Survivor craze.

After all, while Tina, Colby and the rest of the Survivor castaways were battling the elements and anything else the Australian Outback (and the CBS producers) threw at them, the Cardinals were in the midst of a little immunity challenge of their own.

A challenge that would last a span of 31 days, and would put the Cardinals’ ability to handle the pressures of being the defending national champion to the ultimate test.

And when the smoke finally cleared, and the final regular-season out was recorded, it was SMU — thanks to a first-place finish and a 20-2 MIAC record — that was wearing the conference’s immunity necklace (a.k.a. the MIAC’s automatic regional berth) to tribal council.

It’s at this real-life tribal council — the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Tournament — however, that reality and reality TV part company.

There will be no alliances, no secret pacts, no behind-the-back conspiracies to get a fellow competitor voted off.

With five members remaining — Wartburg, Saint Mary’s, St. Thomas, UW-Stevens Point and Marian — every game of this double-elimination tournament becomes a battle for survival.

And each team is its own island.

You win, you stay.

And the Cardinals plan on staying to the very end.

“Getting (to the regional) is great, it’s an accomplishment this entire team can be proud of, but this is just the beginning for us, not the end,” said Nikki Fennern, SMU’s first-year head coach, who has helped guide the Cardinals to a 31-6 overall record and the No. 2 seed in this weekend’s regional tournament. “This team expects to get this far — this isn’t a surprise, or a bonus for having a good season.

“It’s almost like a job,” continued Fennern, whose Cardinals — who ran the tables in both the regional and the national tournaments a year ago in winning SMU’s first-ever fastpitch national crown — square off against MIAC rival St. Thomas in Friday’s opening-round game. “And we won’t be satisfied until the work is completed.”

Forgive the Cardinals if their attitude comes off as arrogant or cocky — they’re not. They just know what they want, and they know what it takes to get it.

It isn’t about making alliances — it’s about winning championships.

“When we played in the regionals my freshman year it was only the second time (SMU) had ever made it to the tournament and it was pretty exciting just being there,” admitted senior Jill Hocking (Apple Valley, Minn.), who has already racked up several post-season honors — including her fourth straight All-MIAC and All-Midwest Region selections — following a regular season that saw her lead the Cardinals in virtually every offensive category. “That year we lost our first two games and we were out right away, and we learned from that. We learned that just getting there wasn’t enough. Every year we’d get a little further — and last year we won it all.

“This year we expect to do that again.”

Hocking isn’t the only Cardinal who has been through all the hype and hoopla that goes with a regional tournament. In fact, freshman Lindsey Smith (Elma, Iowa), the Cardinals’ starting right fielder, is SMU’s lone regional neophyte. Outfielders Ann Munzenmaier (Urbandale, Iowa) and Jennifer Meyer (Oconomowoc, Wis.), and the entire infield — Jennifer Miller (Winona, Minn.) behind the plate, Gina Rizzardi (Woodbury, Minn.) at third, Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) at short, Niki Lynch (Winona, Minn.) at second and Hocking at first (when she’s not pitching) — return to the exact same spots they manned during their national title run a year ago.

“Every one of our (starters), with the exception of Lindsey, played last year,” said Hocking, a two-time All-American and a two-time winner of SMU’s Outstanding Female Athlete and Outstanding Female Scholar-Athlete awards. “And that experience can only make us stronger.”

And Fennern is hoping it’s that experience that gives the Cardinals the upper hand as they face the man who engineered last year’s perfect 7-0 post-season run, UST coach John Tschida.

“I know I say it a lot, but we’re approaching this game just like it’s any other game on the schedule,” said Fennern, whose team split with the Tommies early in the season, with UST winning 3-1 and SMU winning 3-2. “We’re a completely different team than we were the first time we played, and I’m sure they’re a completely different team.

“I don’t think the fact that John’s going to be in the other dugout is going to be that big of a deal,” continued Fennern. “The way I look at it, he’s coaching a team that’s an obstacle in our path and we need to clear that obstacle.”

According to Hocking, the Cardinals’ plan against their former coach is simple, and in true Survivor form — outwit, outplay and outlast the Tommies.

“Tschida will have his team very prepared,” she said. “So we are going to have to make sure we’re ready to play our best game of the season.

“He knows just about everything there is to know about us, so I guess we’re just going to have to outsmart him.”

Let the games begin.