Knapp dominates, softball downs Spartans in pitcher’s duel
Indianapolis senior Trista Cox gets ready to bat against Kent State April 19 in Margo Jonker Stadium.
Playing its final non-conference game of the season on Wednesday, Central Michigan University’s softball team defeated Michigan State University 3-1 at Margo Jonker Stadium.
At 23-19 and 10-6 in the Mid-American Conference, CMU is tied for third in the conference’s west division with Northern Illinois and Western Michigan.
“It’s always good to beat in-state rivals,” said Head Coach Margo Jonker. “I thought we played well defensively but we didn’t take advantage of (MSU’s) mistakes as well as we could have.”
“Our defense was solid and when you have solid defense good things happen.”
MSU started off the scoring with a gap-splitting double to left-center field after the first batter was walked to begin the game.
The lone run in the first inning was all the Spartans could get across for the remainder of the ball game as sophomore pitcher Rachael Knapp kept the MSU bats in check all game.
Knapp, who made her 20th start of 2015, earned her 15th win of the season. The sophomore went seven innings, surrendering the lone run on four hits while striking out five and walking none.
“Knapp doesn’t waste a lot of time between pitches and doesn’t walk a lot of batters,” Jonker said. “When you have that going, then the defense tends to be more solid-a lot of that stuff is conducive to good play.”
Knapp is 15-8 on the season and her ERA dropped from 2.22 to 2.16 Wednesday. The victory was her 17th complete-game effort of the season.
CMU answered an inning after MSU’s lone run came across to score.
After the first two batters of the inning were retired, the Chippewas tallied three base hits and freshman leftfielder Lacy Tolfree drew a walk to make it a tie game 1-1.
Tolfree did her job at the top of the lineup, drawing two walks in the win while going 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run scored.
“I thought Lacy (Tolfree) was seeing the ball better than she was this past weekend,” Jonker said. “I’m sure she feels better about herself now than she did after the weekend.”
It remained a tie ballgame until the bottom of the fourth inning.
Senior shortstop Trista Cox scored a run on a base hit that fell in between MSU’s shortstop and third baseman to put CMU up 2-1.
She advanced to second base after the third baseman had difficulty picking the ball from the dirt. Cox finished the game going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
With little offense from both sides, the Chippewas had to trust that three runs would hold up for them.
Another run scored by junior second baseman Chelsea DeLamielleure on a wild pitch in the fifth inning was all CMU would need to secure the win.
The Chippewas will play four more games to finish off regular season play. They begin a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Friday against The University of Toledo.
Their season will come to an end with games against Bowling Green State University on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. respectively. All four games will be at Margo Jonker Stadium.
