ST. PAUL, Minn. — Over the last five days, Saint Mary's University's
Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) has adopted a phrase made famous by Teddy Roosevelt as her mantra: "Speak softly, and carry a big stick."
A very bid stick.
Birkhauser launched her fourth home run in the last three games, and the Cardinals scored in each of the last six innings in cruising to a 9-4 win over Augsburg in Game 1 of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at the University of Northwestern.
There would be no fifth home run in the last four games in the nightcap for Birkhauser— but there would be another Cardinal win.
Saint Mary's used a pair of two-run innings, one in the first and one in the fourth—not to mention a 3-for-4, two-triple effort by
Stanzy Snyder (Johnston, Iowa) from the lead-off spot—to run away for a 6-2 win in the nightcap.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the opener, getting two-out RBI singles by
Tessa Kuschke (Grant, Minn.) and
Toni Hunsinger (Farmington, Minn.), with Birkhauser's bomb to open the third pushing the Saint Mary's lead to 3-0.
The Cardinals doubled their advantage to 6-0 in the fourth, scoring three times. Hunsinger doubled with one out, stole third, and scored on the throwing error by Auggie catcher Taylor Mattice. Snyder followed by reaching base on Augsburg's second error of the inning and scored on
Mariah Harper's (Schaumburg, Ill.) triple. An RBI groundout by Birkhauser plated Harper with the Cardinals' third run of the inning.
Cardinal starter
Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.) cruised through the first three innings, but the Auggies got to the junior right-hander in their half of the fourth. Brianna Cline broke up Betzold's no-hit bid with a lead-off double, and by the time Ashley Anfinson lined out to first for the third out of the inning, Augsburg had parlayed five hits into three runs, cutting the Saint Mary's lead 6-3.
Saint Mary's sealed the Game 1 win with singles runs in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings—the first on a Kuschke sacrifice fly, the second on a Betzold RBI single, and a third on a run-scoring double by Hunsinger.
Hunsinger paced the Cardinals' 13-hit attack in the opener, going 3-for-4 with two doubles and a pair of RBIs, while Harper,
Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.), and
Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.) all chipped in two hits. Birkhauser, Kuschke, and Hunsinger each drove in a pair of runs. Betzold collected the pitching win—her 17
th of the season—allowing four runs on eight hits, while striking out five.
Birkhauser continued to swing a big stick in Game 2, opening the Cardinal scoring with a first-inning RBI double. Betzold chipped in a run-scoring sacrifice fly, as the Cardinals grabbed a 2-0 lead after their first at-bat.
Augsburg cut the Saint Mary's lead in half with a solo run in the bottom of the first, but the Cardinals answered, scoring once in the third on a Betzold RBI double that scored Birkhauser, and twice more in the fourth—the first on a triple by Snyder and the second on a Harper RBI single—to push the lead to 5-1.
Augsburg scored its second run of the game in the bottom of fourth, only to have the Cardinals answer in the seventh—getting a lead-off triple by Snyder and an infield RBI single by Harper.
Along with Snyder's three-hit, three-runs-scored effort, the Cardinals also got two hits and two RBIs from Harper, and a pair of RBIs on a 1-for-3 performance from Betzold. Betzold also picked up her second pitching win of the afternoon—improving to 18-12 overall and setting a single-season school record with her 22
nd complete game—limiting the Auggies to two runs on four hits, with five strikeouts.
With the sweep, the Cardinals pushed their season-ending winning their last four straight to close out the year 11-11 in conference play and 22-16 overall.
