Chippewas advance in winner's bracket at MAC softball tournament
Kara Dornbos shut down not one, but two teams Wednesday night.
After getting the win in the first game of the Mid-American Conference Softball Tournament in Avon, Ohio, against No. 7 seed Kent State, the junior got the save against No. 3 seed Bowling Green 2-1.
Dornbos came in the sixth inning with a 2-1 lead and Falcons on first and second with nobody out and recorded two pop-outs and a strikeout to end the inning with the lead intact.
“I’m very proud of our team and our staff to get the job done,” said head coach Margo Jonker. “Chelsea (Sundberg) did her job and Kristen (Kuhlman) did her job, and then Dornbos finished it. I talked all year: It needs to be a staff, not one pitcher.”
The Chippewas did not record their first hit until the fourth inning, when junior right fielder Brogan Darwin got a two-out single and then scored on a RBI double by freshman shortstop CarolAnn Sexauer.
The lead didn’t last long as sophomore starter Chelsea Sundberg struggled in the bottom of the fourth, giving up a double and walk to put runners on the corners. Enter sophomore Kristen Kuhlman, who gave up a hit to load the bases and a game-tying run on a fielding error.
CMU broke the 1-1 tie in the sixth inning after senior first baseman Molly Coldren leadoff the inning with single and advanced to third base on a wild pitch. She later scored on a suicide squeeze by Darwin.
“I was thinking get the ball down, simple as that,” Darwin said. “Before every pitch I’m thinking get my job done for the team, whatever it is.”
The Chippewas will go on to play in the semifinals of the winner’s bracket at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against No. 2 seed Miami University.
“We had our winning streak at home and we’re just carrying it on through,” Dornbos said. “Our sights are set on the championship.”
The two teams split the season series, a doubleheader on April 20 in Oxford, Ohio, with CMU winning 4-0 and losing 2-0.
