Central Michigan softball goes 1-3 against MAC East's Ohio, Akron
Despite being outscored by three runs in four games combined, the Central Michigan softball team went a disappointing 1-3 over the weekend at MAC East opponents Ohio and Akron.
The Chippewas split their series against Ohio on Friday, losing Game 1 3-2 and coming from behind to win the second game 4-3 in extra innings. Two strikes away from being swept in Athens, Ohio, to start the weekend, senior first baseman Kari Seddon connected on a two-out double to drive in the pair of game-tying runs in the seventh inning.
CMU added another run in the eighth to pull off the win and salvage the doubleheader. Seddon did it in the circle too, throwing a complete game while allowing five hits and striking out seven.
The other three games — all losses — came down the final inning. In Game 1 against Ohio, the Chippewas were leading 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth, but the Bobcats used four hits and capitalized off two CMU errors to score three runs and win 4-2.
“It was obviously a rough weekend for us,” said CMU head coach Margo Jonker. “Some players had good days, but as a team we did not succeed.”
Saturday was more of the same against Akron, with the Chippewas leading 8-4 going into the fifth inning. The Zips exploded for seven runs on seven hits between the fifth and sixth innings, propelling them to an 11-8 victory.
CMU tried to make a late comeback in the second game on Saturday, scoring seven runs in the sixth and seventh. But Akron’s four runs in its last at-bat gave the Zips an 8-7 win. The Chippewas scored three in the final frame, though they couldn’t push across the tying run.
The Chippewas' offense helped keep the team in all three of the losses. On Saturday, CMU belted six home runs as a team. Junior shortstop Molly Coldren and Seddon tied CMU single-game records for most home runs in a game with two each.
“At Akron the wind was blowing straight out,” Jonker said. “I’ve never seen that many hom eruns in a doubleheader in my career. We had more but they had runners on more often.”
Coldren hit another home run in the second game, along with senior third baseman Amanda Patrick that almost was enough to mount the comeback.
The Chippewas fell to 24-17 and 9-7 in the Mid-American Conference. After going in second place in the MAC West the Chippewas are second to last and distance from first-place Ball State (30-19, 10-3 in MAC).
“They capitalized on anytime we had a misplaced pitch,” Jonker said. “They had a great weekend, and it wasn’t such a good one for us. We’re put in a difficult place right now but we’ll continue fighting and go back to the drawing boards."
CMU will play Michigan State in East Lansing at 4 p.m. Tuesday before returning to MAC play against Eastern Michigan on Saturday and Sunday at Margo Jonker Stadium.
