Softball sweeps Western Michigan
Central Michigan softball defeated Eastern Michigan 5-2 on a walk-off home run Saturday. The Chippewas wore pink jerseys for breast cancer awareness.
Quality pitching and timely hitting helped Central Michigan University’s softball team to a 4-3 victory as they swept rival Western Michigan University in a doubleheader on Friday.
With the win the Chippewas’ record is 21-18 and 8-5 in the Mid-American Conference. The team’s record on the road this season improved to 8-2 in the process.
“We’re excited to get the wins against Western,” said Head Coach Margo Jonker. “They were one place above us in the seeding at this point in the season. It only matters in the end but it’s nice to be able to pick up some ground on them.”
The game started off on a sour note for CMU. Falling behind by two runs in the bottom of the first frame, the women eventually broke through with a run in the third inning.
An inning later, they claimed the lead after two runners reached base. Taking advantage of some defensive miscues by WMU, the Chippewas scored two more runs.
In the fifth inning the Chippewas were given a prime opportunity they did not fail to cash in on. Senior shortstop Trista Cox reached third base on an error by WMU’s right fielder. Junior first baseman Katelyn Rentschler drove Cox in on a sacrifice fly, making it a 4-3 game.
This came an inning after CMU allowed the Broncos to tie the game at three runs apiece.
Cox finished the second game going 1-for-3 and Rentschler ended her strong offensive day with an RBI while going 1-for-2 in the batter’s box.
“In second game it didn’t look like (Rentschler) was going to see many pitches to hit. (Western) was pitching around her,” Jonker said.
Junior second baseman Chelsea DeLamielleure drove in a run for the Chippewas as she went 2-for-3 and scored a run as well.
Freshman Hanna Warren pitched five innings in the circle, giving up one earned run on six hits. She also struck out five batters en route to her sixth victory of the season.
Warren’s record on the circle this season now stands at 6-8 overall and her ERA drops to 3.84.
Sophomore Rachael Knapp made her second appearance of the day in relief of Warren after starting the first game of the double header.
In two innings of work, Knapp struck out four and surrendered just a bunt single.
Game One
CMU used a couple of big innings of big offense to defeat the Broncos 9-1 in the first game of the double header.
Rentschler started off the scoring for the Chippewas with a solo home run in the top of the second inning.
The Etiwanda, Cali. native hit another solo home run in the top of the seventh inning. The home runs were her eighth and ninth of the season and she currently leads the team in the category.
“(Rentschler) did a great job-she had great presence at the plate. I’m proud of her,” Jonker said.
In total CMU plated three runs in their half of the second inning. An inning later they scored two more runs to make it a 5-0 ballgame but the offense was far from being finished Bronco pitching on the afternoon.
“In game one our defense was very solid. We played game one as well as you can play a game.”
“We got a lot of hits-we had power hits, RBI hits, we had table-setter type hits.”
Knapp started the game in the circle. In seven innings pitched, she picked up the win to improve to 13-7 on the season. The victory was her 15th complete-game performance this season.
CMU’s all-time record against their in-state rivals from Kalamazoo improves to 69-37-0.
The Chippewas get a day off on Saturday before playing a double header against Northern Illinois University starting at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
