CMU softball learns from difficult part of schedule
Central Michigan softball played in its last game of the Mary Nutter Classic on Sunday, falling to the Arkansas, 12-4.
Junior pitcher Rachael Knapp took the loss for CMU, surrendering seven runs on nine hits over 3 2/3 innings pitched. Redshirt senior CarolAnn Sexauer led the Chippewas offense with three RBIs on two hits and senior Katelyn Rentschler drove in the last run with an RBI in the fifth inning.
The Chippewas' lone win during their trip to Palm Springs, California came against No. 9 Arizona on Saturday, 4-1. Knapp earned the victory by striking out 12 batters and allowing just four hits over seven innings of work.
“I was extremely nervous, but I had a lot of trust in our team that we were going be able to pull through, it was great,” Knapp said.
Head Coach Margo Jonker said her team performed well in all three areas of the game against Arizona, which helped it pull out the upset victory.
“We had awesome defense, we had awesome pitching and we had good hitting," Jonker said. "It all just clicked.”
Although the Chippewas were 1-4 over the weekend, Knapp said the trip was still valuable for the team.
“We have learned that we can really hang with (top 25 teams)," Knapp said. "We were a little doubtful at the beginning, but after that win it really gave us a lot of confidence.”
Jonker said the team was unable to get different parts of the game working together, which led to it struggles during the trip.
“I think the key is, if we play our best game, we can beat anybody," Jonker said. "If we don’t play our best game, we can get beat by anybody. We just need to bring our best game to the field and have all things clicking.”
The Chippewas will travel to Clearwater, Florida for their next game when they play Sam Houston State on March 4.
