Offense stalls as softball team falls at Western Michigan
After one swing of the bat, the Central Michigan softball found itself in a 2-0 hole they were unable to come back from.
With a 0-0 score in the fourth inning, Western Michigan’s Abby Stoner stepped to the plate with a runner on second base. At a key juncture in the game, Stoner hit her sixth home run of the year over the left field fence.
Central Michigan fell to WMU with a final score of 4-0. Stoner’s home run shifted the momentum in the Bronco’s favor.
“That pitch should not have been thrown. We had plenty of opportunities to score before that inning and didn’t take advantage of it,” said Head Coach Margo Jonker.
In the second inning, CMU had two runners on base with one out, but were unable to get either runner across the plate.
In the fifth, seniors Melissa Palmer and Sabrina Gamboa each had an RBI to double the Broncos’ lead, 4-0.
After 4 2/3 innings, sophomore Hanna Warren replaced CMU ace pitcher Rachael Knapp in the circle. To that point, Knapp allowed four runs on five hits before Jonker decided to make the change.
“They started timing (Knapp) a little bit, so I just thought to change the timing up a little bit,” Jonker said.
Senior pitcher Allyson Kus earned her second complete game victory this season against CMU. Kus surrendered three hits without allowing any runs to go along with three strikeouts.
“(Kus) did a good job of mixing pitches and had good speed today, she pitched a good ball game,” Jonker said.
After today’s loss, the Chippewas' record falls to 15-21-1 (2-8-1 MAC) to remain in last place in the Mid-American Conference West Division. This was CMU’s third loss in a row.
Jonker said her team needs to take advantage of every opportunity it has and score some runs in order to turn their fortunes around going forward.
CMU will host Toledo for a three-game series at Margo Jonker Stadium beginning Friday at 3:00 p.m. The Rockets come into the game in fifth place in the MAC West with a 8-28 (3-8 MAC) record.
