Softball sweeps doubleheader, wins seventh consecutive
The Central Michigan softball team swept Eastern Michigan in a doubleheader Saturday, improving its Mid-American conference record to 10-4.
CMU (24-13, 10-4 MAC) won the first game 5-3 and followed with a 7-1 victory, its seventh consecutive win.
Sophomore Molly Coldren put the Chippewas on the board in the top of the third inning with a two-run home run in Game 2. The homer was her 10th of the season.
Eastern (14-25, 4-10 MAC) answered back in the bottom of the inning with a pair of doubles by McKenna Russ and Jenny Scherer to score a run.
Freshman Kara Dornbos was able to get the Chippewas out of the jam with a strikeout with two runners in scoring position.
“Kara Dornbos threw a great game,” Coldren said. “We had a couple good plays in the field and good hitting helped us get the win.”
Redshirt freshman Brogan Darwin doubled in the fourth inning and came around to score after a single by senior Christina Novak.
Sophomore outfielder Ashley Gilson continued the scoring with her fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to increase the Central lead to 5-1.
“The long balls were really important today. Three different girls hit home runs, which showed them that any of us could hit,” Coldren said.
CMU went on to score another two runs in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
With the win, Dornbos improved to 10-3 after giving up one run on eight hits. She struck out three without giving up a walk.
Game 1
It took extra innings for Central to win the first game of the doubleheader, scoring four runs in the eighth inning.
A solo home run by Stacie Skodinski gave the Eagles an early lead in the third inning.
Central responded quickly in the fourth. Coldren started the inning with a walk and advanced to second off a sacrifice bunt by senior Jill Schulz. A single by Amanda Patrick moved Coldren to third, and a wild pitch allowed her to score to tie the game.
The game stayed tied until the eighth inning, when both teams' offenses came alive.
Patrick stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs and sent the ball out of the park. The grand slam was her fifth home run of the season.
Eastern’s Nellie Coquillard attempted to extend the game further, hitting a two-run homer with two outs to cut the CMU lead.
Junior Kari Seddon struck out the last Eagle batter, her 12th of the game to advance to 13-7 on the season. She gave up three runs on six hits through eight innings.
The team looks to continue its win streak at 1 p.m. Friday against Buffalo on the road.
