Softball hosts Buffalo, Kent Stat this weekend
Softball will prepare to keep the home cooking going when it hosts four Mid-American Conference games this weekend against Buffalo and Kent State.
After claiming two mercy victories against Detroit-Mercy Wednesday, the Chippewas will face off against the MAC East schools beginning on Friday with a doubleheader against the Bulls at 1 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, they will play two games versus the Golden Flashes at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
Supported by the crowd in the first home game of the season, CMU was in rare form on Wednesday. Especially potent on the diamond was junior Cory DeLamielleure, who hit two triples in game two and ended game one with a home run; she had five RBI from five hits.
“It’ll give me a little more confidence at the plate, but I'll still be humble,” DeLamielleure said. “It definitely felt good to be at home; our team was excited all week to get out here, and we had a good turnout.”
With conference play heating up, the team will need to carry this confidence into the long weekend ahead.
“That’s why we play these games during the week, to get some confidence and momentum to carry us through the weekend,” said head coach Margo Jonker. “We have to just build on this and keep getting better, because Buffalo is a team that seems to be a little bit of an issue for us, and so, hopefully, at home, that will be taken care of.”
Central Michigan has a 3-6 record against Buffalo over the last five seasons but has been turning that around with a 7-0 victory last season in its only contest.
This season, the Bulls (5-20, 0-3 Mid-American Conference) are off to a slow start with 20 losses already; however, the Chippewas are prepared to give them no chances to raise their poor record.
“It doesn’t matter what the records are; we need to play the game and not the uniform,” Jonker said.
Also a threat is Kent State, who is fresh off back-to-back conference victories over Akron.
With the potential to get an early lead in the MAC West, these games are vital to come out of the gate strong this season. The Chippewas finished third in the conference last season and they are looking for another run at the MAC championship.
“These wins are huge," Jonker said. "If we want to be on the road to win the conference, we need to get these games"
