With MAC West race up in the air, critical weekend ahead for CMU softball


Four games with Ohio and Akron stand in the way of CMU softball and its quest to climb to the top of the Mid-American Conference standings.

“This weekend is going to be huge for the conference division,” said CMU head coach Margo Jonker. “The top five teams are so close. I can’t remember a year they’ve been this close.”

CMU is a half-game behind first place Northern Illinois and are a part of five teams within a game of first place.

“We can gain some distance on the top this weekend,” Jonker said.

On Friday, the Chippewas will be in Athens, Ohio, to play a doubleheader with the Ohio Bobcats (15-18, 4-5 in MAC) starting at 1 p.m. Half of the Bobcats lineup is batting .300 or better.

“Ohio is always a scrappy team that plays solid and well-coached,” Jonker said.

Senior Emily Wethington is 12-7 in the circle and holds a .360 average with four home runs.

“From playing them last year we know they’re definitely beatable,” said sophomore Summer Knoop. “But we know we have to play our best game to beat anyone in the MAC.”

On Saturday and Sunday CMU will face Akron, who leads the league-lead in stolen bases.

“Akron is fast and likes to steal a lot,” Jonker said. “Our catchers are doing a great job throwing people out. It helps when a pitcher has good velocity and the catcher can throw.”

Freshman catcher Cory DeLamielleur has shown off her arm by throwing out five out of the nine runners that have tried to steal on her. Senior Amanda Klosterman has also thrown out 4-of-9.

“Our catchers have really strong arms,” Knoop said. “I always get really fired up when our catchers throw people out.”

Akron has the second worst record in the MAC at 2-8.

“We plan to sweep this weekend,” Knoop said. “This weekend is really, really important, (so) we have to do everything we can do to sweep.”

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