WINONA, Minn. — Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) was at her best Saturday afternoon, as the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota right-hander limited visiting Concordia to just one run on five hits over 14 innings in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at the Saint Mary's Field.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinal fastpitch softball team, Betzold's effort was only good enough for a conference split.
 
Concordia scored the only run of Game 1 in the top of the seventh to beat Saint Mary's 1-0, while the Cardinals erupted for four runs in the second and two more in the fifth to earn the split with a 6-0 victory in the nightcap.
 
Betzold was virtually untouchable in the opener, taking a perfect game into the fourth and a no-hitter into the sxith.
 
Madison Little foiled Betzold's no-hit bid with a one-out single up the middle in the top of the sixth, but was stranded on second base to keep the game scoreless.
 
Ashley Tibbetts got the Cobbers' second hit to lead off the seventh, was sacrificed to second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on pinch-hitter Mackee Hoffman's RBI single through the right side.
 
The Cardinals—who stranded runners on second and third in the first, and first and third in both the fifth and sixth—had runners at the corners with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but CC pitcher Abigail Haraldson got her counterpart Betzold to flight out to center to seal the Cobber victory.
 
Alex Raske (Chicago, Ill.) went 3-for-4 and Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.) was 2-for-3, as the Cardinal duo accounted for five of the team's seven hits. Betzold went the distance on the mound, allowing the one run on three hits, while walking one and striking out five.
 
Betzold continued her mastery of the Cobbers in the second game, allowing just a third-inning infield single and a lead-off single in the seventh en route to her team-leading 14th win and 18th complete game.
 
This time around, the Cardinals gave Betzold plenty of offensive support—thanks in large part to the bat of Sam Borawski (Stickney, Ill.).
 
Borawski blasted a three-run home run as part of the Cardinals' four-run second inning, and Alexa Diteman (Burnsville, Minn.) doubled and Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) singled to drive in Saint Mary's two fifth-inning runs to lift Saint Mary's to the conference split.
 
Stanzy Snyder (Johnston, Iowa) went 3-for-4 and Betzold helped her own cause with a pair of hits in four at-bats. Borawski, Raske, Harper, Diteman, Birkhauser, and Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.) accounted for the Cardinals' other six hits.
 
The Cardinals (11-11 MIAC, 17-17 overall) are back in action on Monday, when they host UW-Eau Claire in a nonconference doubleheader at the Saint Mary's Field. Opening pitch is slated for 3 p.m.