WINONA, Minn. — It took the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team a couple of innings to get warmed up Saturday afternoon—sub-40 temperatures will do that to a team.
 
But once they did, the Cardinals' bats sizzled in the opening game of their nonconference doubleheader against UW-River Falls.
 
The Cardinals scored two runs in the third inning—and five more in the fourth—in dealing UW-River Falls a 7-5 setback in Game 1 at the Saint Mary's Field.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinal bats were fooled by the frigid temperatures and went into hibernation in the nightcap, managing just two runs­ on five hits in falling to the Falcons 6-2 in eight innings.
 
After failing to get a runner on base through the first two innings against Cardinal starter Ashley Betzold (Farmington, Minn.), the Falcons tagged the senior right-hander for a pair of runs in the third.
 
Carolyn Griswold opened the third with a walk, moved to second on a passed ball, and scored on back-to-back singles by Ali Murray and Kala Dorn. After a fielder's choice groundout, Alyana Ledwein delivered the Falcons' third hit of the inning to push the UW-River Falls lead to 2-0.
 
The Cardinals answered right back in their half of the third. Betzold delivered her second hit of the afternoon to put runners on first and third with two outs, and Kathi Opsahl (Elk River, Minn.) followed with a two-run, two-out single to knot the game at 2-2.
 
UW-River Falls regained the lead with a single run in the top of the fourth, but again the Cardinals answered—in a big way.
 
Back-to-back-to-back one-out singles by Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.), Quinncy Zupko (Wyoming, Minn.), and Haley Williams (Littleton, Colo.) to load the bases, and, one out later, Haley Vanourney (Marion, Iowa) laced a two-run single to right-center. Birkhauser scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch, and Opsahl and Allie Borawski (Stickney, Ill.) laced back-to-back RBI singles to push the Cardinal advantage to 7-3.
 
The Falcons scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to cut the Cardinal lead to two, 7-5, but Betzold set UW-River Falls down in order in the seventh to preserve the win.
 
Betzold finished 3-for-3 at the plate with a pair of runs scored, while Opsahl was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Borawski and Zupko each chipped in two hits.
 
Game 2 started eerily similar to Game 1 for Saint Mary's—only this time, there would be no third- and fourth-inning offensive outbursts. In fact, it wouldn't be until the bottom of the seventh that the Cardinals would plate their first run.
 
After being held hitless through three innings against UWRF starter Payton Speckel in the nightcap, the Cardinals opened the fourth with a single by Betzold and a four-pitch to Opsahl. The two were moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Borawski, but both were thrown out at the plate on consecutive grounders to keep the game scoreless.
 
The Falcons finally broke the ice in the sixth, as Murray led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and scored on a double by Shannan Borchardt to give UW-River Falls a 1-0 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's threatened again in the sixth, as Betzold and Opsahl delivered one-out singles and Aldrich drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Falcon reliever Maddie Studnicka, however, induced Jordyn Keprios (Farmington, Minn.) to ground out the end the threat.
 
The Cardinals got the equalizer in their final at-bat. Pinch-hitter Amber Trendle was hit by a pitch and Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) followed with a single.  and the two moved to second and third on a passed ball with one out. Studnicka got Vanourney to ground out to third for the second out, but Betzold laced a single through the left side to plate the game-tying run—and send the game into extra innings.
 
The Falcons sent eight batters to the plate in the top of the eighth, scoring five times—all with two outs—to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Saint Mary's would score once in its half of the eighth—on a fielder's choice ground out by Keprios—but that was as close as the Cardinals would get.
 
Betzold put together her second straight three-hit game—going 3-for-5—to account for three of the Cardinals' five hits in the nightcap. Opsahl and Birkhauser delivered Saint Mary's other two hits.
 
The Cardinals (5-7 overall) are right back in action on Sunday, traveling to La Crosse, Wis., for a 2 p.m. nonconference doubleheader against UW-La Crosse.