WINONA, Minn. — The road certainly didn't get any easier for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team.
 
Just days after squaring off against Luther—ranked No. 7 in the latest NFCA Top 25 and boasting a 19-1 overall record—the Cardinals kicked off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play against St. Catherine.
 
Unbeaten and 18^th-ranked St. Catherine.
 
Thanks to two swings of Brittney Birkhauser's (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) bat, the Wildcats are unbeaten no more, as the Cardinal sophomore belted a three-run home run in the fourth and a game-winning double in the sixth to lift Saint Mary's to a 6-5 win in Game 1of the team's doubleheader at Saint Mary's Field.
 
A sweep was not in the cards, however, as Megan Lindenfelser—who surrendered the game-winning run in relief in the bottom of the sixth in Game 1—atoned for herself in the nightcap, shutting out the Cardinals on two hits in leading SCU to a 3-0 victory.
 
St. Catherine jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second, but the Cardinals pulled even with a two-run inning of their own in the third—the first on a sacrifice fly by Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) and the second on an RBI single by Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.).
 
The Wildcats plated one run in the top of the fourth to make it 3-2 SCU, but the lead was short-lived, as Birkhauser blasted a three-run shot in the Saint Mary's half of the inning to give the Cardinals a 5-3 advantage.
 
SCU, however, responded with two runs in the top of the fifth to knot the game at 5-5—and set up Birkhauser's late-game heroics.
 
Saint Mary's opened the bottom of the sixth.
 
Stanzy Snyder (Johnston, Iowa) was hit by a pitch with one out in the sixth, before Birkhauser laced a double to score Snyder all the way from first with what proved to be the game-winning run.
 
The Wildcats put their first two batters on base in the top of the seventh, but Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) worked out of the jam to earn her eighth pitching win of the season.
 
Birkhauser was the only Cardinal with more than one hit in the opener, going 2-for-3 with a run scored and four RBIs. Snyder, Opsahl, Borawski, Toni Hunsinger (Farmington, Minn.), and Mariah Harper (Schaumburg, Ill.) accounted for Saint Mary's other five hits.
 
Birkhauser picked up right where she left off in Game 2, going 2-for-3.
 
Unfortunately, that would be the only two hits the Cardinals would get off Lindenfelser, who struck out 10 in recording the complete-game shutout.
 
SCU scored once in the second and twice in the fifth—which was more than enough run support for Lindenfelser.
 
The Cardinals (1-1 MIAC, 12-6 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, hosting Saint Benedict in a 3:30 p.m. conference doubleheader against Saint Benedict at the Saint Mary's Field.