Softball drops first two in Florida
Before her team went to Florida, Margo Jonker said she it need to improve its defensive approach.
On Friday, the Central Michigan softball team dropped the ball - literally - defensively, losing both games of a doubleheader in Clearwater, Fla. CMU lost 4-3 to the College of Charleston and 5-2 to the Radford Highlanders.
“I’m very disappointed,” Jonker said. “We made crucial defensive mistakes that allowed them to score some runs. We need consistency on defense.”
Game 1
Senior right-hander Kari Seddon pitched all nine innings, giving up one earned run, but picked up the loss. She struck out 12 batters and only allowed five Cougar hits.
“Seddon pitched a great game,” Jonker said.
Sophomore Brogan Darwin started the fifth inning off with a double and senior Amanda Klosterman followed with a single. With two runners on, sophomore Bryttany Van Vliet singled up the middle that plated both runners, putting CMU up 2-1.
The Chippewas carried that lead up until the Cougars’ last at-bat. Down to its final out, Charleston got a game-tying run off a Kristy Giragosian single.
“They scored on a seeing-eye bloop hit,” Jonker said. “It’s disappointing.”
Both CMU and Charleston (11-5) scored in the eighth inning before the Cougars hit a walk-off double in the ninth to take the game 4-3. The Chippewas would have won if not for a throwing error in the eighth that would have prevented the tying run to score.
“We made three errors in the infield in the first game,” Jonker said. “The key is defense.”
Game 2
The Chippewas jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on four hits in the first inning against Radford (12-7), including an RBI single from Kari Seddon, who finished the day with three hits and an RBI.
CMU (3-5) was shut out the rest of the game, while Radford scored five runs as the struggles on defense continued. Freshman Chelsea Sundberg pitched 3.1 innings, allowing three runs on four hits and struck out three.
“Chelsea wasn’t as sharp as her first weekend,” Jonker said. “But the outfielders had three drops – we had one player make three errors in the outfield.”
The box score only showed one error to freshman Danielle Cabrera.
“We’re finding some things out about our players,” Jonker said.
