CLERMONT, Fla. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota fastpitch softball team kicked off the final day of their 10-game spring trip in impressive fashion Saturday morning.
 
And it closed in much the same way.
 
The Cardinals got a pair of hits from Paige Gudmundson (Plainview, Minn.) and a  two-run home run from Brittney Birkhauser (Wisconsin Rapids, Wis.) and jumped out to a 5-1 lead in beating Johnson & Wales 5-4 in their first game of the day.
 
In the nightcap, Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a pair of RBIs, as Saint Mary's completed a perfect 2-0 day with an 8-6 win over Eastern Nazarene.
 
Saint Mary's jumped out to a 2-0 lead—thanks to Birkhauser's first home run of the season in the second—and, after surrendering a solo run in the top of the fifth, erupted for three runs in the bottom of the fifth for a 5-1 advantage.
 
Johnson & Wales cut the deficit to 5-3 with two runs in the top of the sixth and added another in the seventh, but Amber Chow (West St. Paul, Minn.) worked out of a second-and-third, two-out jam by striking out Ally Mishol to seal the win.
 
Gudmundson led the Cardinal offensive attack, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored, while Birkhauser, Justin Schultz (Winona, Minn.), Kali Aldrich (Rochester, Minn.), and Haley Williams (Littleton, Colo.) all had one hit.
 
Amber Trendle (Chicago, Ill.) picked up the pitching win, allowing four runs—two earned—on eight hits in six innings of work, while Chow earned her second save with a no-run, two-hit seventh inning.
 
The Cardinals grabbed the early lead against Eastern Nazarene as well, scoring a pair of unearned second-inning runs, while adding another run in the third—on an RBI single by Haley Vanourney (Marion, Iowa)—to take an early 3-0 lead.
 
Eastern Nazarene erupted for five, fourth-inning runs, only to have Saint Mary's answer with five runs of its own in the bottom of the frame.
 
Aldrich highlighted the Cardinals' five-run inning, driving in a pair with a two-run single, while Birkhauser also drove in a run, as Saint Mary's plated five runs on five hits—and took advantage of an ENC error—to take an 8-5 advantage.
 
Eastern Nazarene added a solo run in the seventh, but again Chow worked out of the inning to post the complete-game win.
 
Along with Aldrich's three hits, the Cardinals also got hits from Gudmundson, Schultz, Birkhauser, Chow, Vanourney, and Jordyn Keprios (Farmington, Minn.). Chow went the distance for the win, allowing six runs—only two of which were earned—on 10 hits, while striking out three.
 
The Cardinals (4-5 overall) are now off until March 27, when they are schedule to host UW-La Crosse in a 3 p.m. nonconference doubleheader at the Saint Mary's Field.