Softball drops Mid-American Conference opener to Kent State
Central Michigan’s softball team lost its first game of Mid-American Conference play on Friday as the team visited Kent, Ohio to take on the Golden Flashes.
CMU (13-13, 0-1 MAC) fell to Kent State (18-7, 1-0 MAC) 7-3 at the Diamond at Dix in the first of a three-game weekend series.
After a nine-strikeout performance against Valparaiso on Tuesday, junior starting pitcher Rachel Knapp (7-6) pitched four innings and gave up all seven earned runs on five hits and five walks. Sophomore pitcher Laura Vaccaro came in for relief in the fifth inning and gave up no hits in the five batters she faced.
Ronnie Ladines (12-1) went all seven innings for the Golden Flashes, giving up only three runs on seven hits while striking out five.
Both teams went scoreless in the first two innings. A grand slam in the third inning by Holly Speers gave KSU a 4-0 lead and the Chippewas weren’t able to make up the difference.
CMU had two home runs of its own in the fourth inning as senior shortstop CarolAnn Sexauer hit one over the left field wall for the second straight game. Senior second baseman Chelsea DeLamielleure followed with a two-run home run to center field, to cut the score to 4-3.
Sexauer and DeLamielleure finished the game 1-for-4 and 1-for-3, respectively. No player for CMU had multiple hits.
After the Chippewas gained some momentum, Speers stepped to the plate for the Golden Flashes again in the fifth inning and hit her second home run of the game, which pushed the score to 5-3. Speers finished 2-for-2 with five RBI’s and one walk.
Two batters later, Bailey Brownfield added a two-run home run of her own to push the lead to 7-3 and give KSU the first game of the series.
The Chippewas and Golden Flashes will be back in action Saturday with game one of the doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. and game two starting at 3 p.m.
