Chippewas heartbroken on senior day, will be the four seed in conference tournament
Two clutch Bowling Green State University home runs spoiled Central Michigan University softball’s senior day Sunday as it dropped the regular season finale 3-2 to the Falcons in nine innings.
After leading for the first five innings, CMU relinquished the lead and failed to recapture it despite having chances to do so.
“I’m very disappointed in the outcome of the game,” said Head Coach Margo Jonker. “We had 13 hits, scored those two runs in the first inning and we didn’t score after that.”
“We left a number of runners on base. We had bases loaded, we had runners at second and third with our three, four, five hitters up and we couldn’t get the ball out of the infield.”
Having already secured the fourth spot in the upcoming Mid-American Conference Tournament, the loss brings CMU’s 2015 regular season record to 25-21 and 12-8 in MAC contests.
The Chippewas did not waste time getting on the scoreboard. A pair of doubles in the gap by senior shortstop Trista Cox and junior first baseman Katelyn Rentschler gave CMU an early 2-0 lead.
The two runs in the opening frame would be CMU's only runs of the game.
Cox finished her final game in maroon and gold going 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
“Honestly, every game here is surreal,” Cox said. “It’s an amazing stadium and we have a great following from the people in Mount Pleasant.”
“Seeing my number painted out there on the field was something that I never would’ve thought would happen. It was just a lot of fun.”
This came after freshman Lacy Tolfree drew a leadoff walk and was sacrifice bunted into scoring position by senior right fielder Kristen Kuhlman.
Tolfree went 3-for-5 with a run scored in the extra-inning loss.
Sophomore Rachael Knapp made her 22nd start of the season in the circle for CMU. She kept the Falcons' bats at bay for five innings.
Her only mistakes of the afternoon came when she surrendered a game-tying two-run home run in the top of the sixth inning and the eventual game-winning home run in the top of the ninth inning.
In total, the St. Joseph-native pitched all nine innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits while striking out a season-high 13 Bowling Green hitters.
“Knapp pitched pretty well,” Jonker said. “After a while (Knapp) wasn’t quite as sharp as she was in the beginning and (Bowling Green) made adjustments.”
Knapp’s regular season record concludes at 15-10 and she finishes with a 2.07 ERA.
“That’s pretty depressing that we didn’t come through more today offensively. We’re going to have to pick it up tremendously if we’re going to do anything in the MAC Tournament,” Jonker said.
While the regular season has come to a close, the Chippewas still have the MAC Tournament to look forward to. It will begin Wednesday in Akron, Ohio.
