Chippewas win fourth straight behind Knapp's seven shutout innings


In a battle for fourth place in the Mid-American Conference West Division, the Central Michigan softball team defeated Ball State 1-0 in part one of a three-game weekend series Friday in Muncie, Indiana.

The Chippewas (19-21-1, 6-8-1 MAC) earned their fourth straight victory behind a strong performance from junior pitcher Rachael Knapp and two early errors by the Falcon defense.   

“I thought Rachael Knapp pitched a great game. I thought she mixed her pitches well and really came away with some key strikeouts in key situations,” said Head Coach Margo Jonker. “(Katelyn) Rentschler also played made some nice plays at first base to keep us in it.”

In the first inning, sophomore outfielder Sarah Hansen hit a routine ground ball to BSU shortstop Selena Reyna, but she bobbled the ball and Hansen was safe at first base. After advancing to second base on a ground ball, a wild pitch moved her to third base and a ground ball brought her home, scoring the lone run of the game.

“Hansen did a great job running the bases,” Jonker said. “On a ball hit to the second baseman, she ran home and not a lot of people would have taken advantage of that, so that was really heads up.”

Knapp handled the rest, pitching seven scoreless innings and earned her second straight complete game performance.

"I was really just trying to attack their batters and control my pitches," she said." I felt really good out there."

Knapp (10-11, 2.89 ERA) struck out five, while surrendering three hits and no walks.

After losing four starts in a row, Knapp has won her last three starts, giving up two earned runs in the process. She attributes her turn around to a change in the team's mentality over the course of the last week. 

While the Chippewa bats were unable to get much going, Jonker said she’s happy with the team’s ability to grind out games.

“We just need to keep playing one pitch at a time and one game at a time,” she said. “We take every win we can get, no matter how we get it.”

Central Michigan and Ball State will conclude their series with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

“Every single game the rest of the season is key,” Jonker said. “We need to get some hits and keep grinding games out.”

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