Strong pitching, dominant offense leads to CMU sweep of Toledo
In front of its largest home crowd this season, the Central Michigan softball team delivered a three-game sweep over the visiting Toledo Rockets, to push themselves into a tie for fourth place in the Mid-American Conference West Division.
After a walk-off home run by senior Katelyn Rentschler on Friday, CMU took the doubleheader on Saturday in front of 420 fans and won behind timely hitting and consistent pitching from sophomore Hanna Warren and junior Rachael Knapp.
"It's the first weekend sweep in the conference we've had all year," said Head Coach Margo Jonker. "Our bats came through and we were able to take advantage. We've really been working on scoring more runs. I think (Warren and Knapp) really did a great job and I'm really happy with both of them."
CMU (18-21-1, 5-8-1) exploded in the fifth inning of game one with nine runs after struggling much of the first four innings.
Sophomore Lacy Tolfree hit a bases clearing double to give the team its first lead of the game. Freshman Rachel Viera added an RBI single followed by an RBI double from sophomore Mason Kalina.
CMU's offensive barrage continued as sophomores Sarah Hansen and Sydney Heath along with senior CarolAnn Sexauer added RBI doubles of their own to extend the lead to 10-3.
A two-run home run by Viera in the sixth inning pushed the Chippewa lead to 12-3 and ended the contest by mercy rule.
Warren (7-7, 3.61 ERA) was in trouble in the first inning after a three-run home run by Brittany George, but she responded with five straight scoreless innings, striking out four while surrendering four hits.
Knapp pitched a similar performance in game two. The St. Joseph native gave up one run in the first inning, but shut down the Rockets the next six innings to improve her record to 9-11 (3.16 ERA).
Knapp surrendered two hits and struck out six.
More late inning punishment
As in game one, the offense was held scoreless through the first three innings. This time, the team got one run in the fourth off a home run by senior Chelsea DeLamielleure, but once again broke out in the late innings.
After a lead-off triple by freshman Allison Curtis in the fifth, Sexauer walked to put runners on the corners. Heath stepped to the plate next and once again doubled to left field to break the tie, 3-1.
Two batters later, DeLamielleure drove in Heath to extend the lead to 4-1. Heath and DeLamielleure finished the day 4-for-8 and 4-for-6 with 6 total RBI.
"Heath has really been coming through for us," Jonker said. "I'm glad she decided to come to CMU this year."
The Chippewas won by mercy rule once again after adding five runs in the sixth after a bases clearing triple from Kalina and double from Curtis to end the game 9-1.
The 12 runs in game one were the most by CMU all season, while the nine in game two was the third highest performance.
Central Michigan heads to Ball State next Friday for a two-game weekend series. The Chippewas and Cardinals are tied in fourth place in the West Division.
"It's going to be huge for us getting into the tournament," Jonker said. "We gotta take it one game at a time. This is a good setup for us and Ball State to take control of our own destiny."
