MIAC Release

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University fastpitch softball team entered Sunday's doubleheader against Saint Benedict with their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournament hopes hanging in the balance.

Fourteen innings later, the Cardinals were two steps closer to a second straight conference tournament appearance — thanks in large part to the right arm of pitcher Kayla Peterson (Lewiston, Minn.).

Peterson tossed back-to-back complete games — hurling a three-hit shutout in SMU's 3-0 Game 1 win over the Blazers, then doing herself one better in the nightcap with a complete-game two-hitter in SMU's sweep-clinching 6-1 victory.

And Monday, Peterson was rewarded for her Herculean effort, as the Cardinal junior was named MIAC Pitcher of the Week.

Peterson — who went 2-1 with a 1.35 ERA in three starts last week — kicked things off by allowing two earned runs in a 6-1 nonconference loss to UW-Eau Claire on Tuesday, and then turned in the two most dominating performances of her collegiate career when it mattered most on Sunday against Saint Benedict.

Needing two wins to keep their post-season hopes alive, Peterson hoisted the Cardinals on her shoulders and delivered those two conference victories.

In the opener, Peterson scattered three hits and did not allow a runner past second base en route to her third complete-game shutout of the season. And the junior right-hander was just warming up, as Peterson held CSB to just two hits — a lead-off double in the first and a lead-off single in the seventh — while walking one and striking out three in Game 2.

Peterson heads into Tuesday's showdown with playoff-bound Gustavus having started 31 of the team's 34 games, throwing 176.2 innings. She picked up her career-high 13th and 14th wins of the season against Saint Benedict, has tossed 15 complete games — including three shutouts — and boasts 64 strikeouts.