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LA GRANGE, Ga. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team picked right up where it left off last season, as the Cardinals opened defense of their NCAA Division III national championship with a first-place finish in the inaugural NFCA Lead-Off Classic.

The Cardinals, who beat Chapman 5-0 to win the school's first-ever national crown last May, shut out Alma 8-0 in the title game of the Lead-Off Classic to finish the tournament with a 5-1 record.

The lone blemish came via a 4-1 setback to Cabrini in the final game of pool-play. SMU actually snuck into the championship bracket as the No. 8 seed (the six pool winners received automatic berths, while the two at-large berths rounded out the eight-team championship bracket) with its 2-1 pool-play record.

Once in the championship bracket, however, the Cardinals were unstoppable as they avenged their lone loss with a 1-0 win over Cabrini, then hammered Alma 8-0 in five innings in the championship game.

Jill Hocking (Apple Valley, Minn.) picked up the pitching victory in the title game, tossing a two-hit, five-inning shutout. The senior surrendered just two singles, while striking out four. Offensively, Jackie Huegel (Alta Vista, Iowa) and Jennifer Meyer (Oconomowoc, Wis.) each laced a pair of hits, while Hocking and Lindsey Smith (Elma, Iowa) both drove in a pair of runs. The Cardinals wasted little time putting the game out of reach, scoring twice in the second innings, then added back-to-back three-run outbursts in the third and fourth innings.

In the semifinals against Cabrini, Jennifer Gonerka (St. Paul, Minn.) was the pitching hero, scattering three hits in the complete-game win. And the Cardinals needed Gonerka to be at her best, as they scored the game's lone run in the first inning on a pair of singles, then hoped on Gonerka's back as the sophomore made the lead hold up.

Hocking and Huegel were named to the all-tournament team.