CMU softball goes 1-4 in opening weekend tournament
Central Michigan softball competed in the South Alabama invitational where it went 1-4 beating Northern Illinois, 6-5, while losing to Eastern Kentucky twice, South Alabama and the University of Alabama Birmingham.
The Chippewas start the season 1-4 overall with a big weekend in Arizona looming.
Game 1
To open up the season, CMU faced off against EKU where it fell 7-4 on Friday.
Freshman Carley Sleeman made the most of her debut as a Chippewa as she put CMU on the board first with a double in the first inning, scoring senior Michaleigh Vallimont and senior Abbey Tolmie.
Eastern Kentucky's Madison Scott responded with a single to score Jasmine Miller in the top of the second making the score 2-1.
However, Central Michigan tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth as Tolmie put a ball in play, leading to an Eastern Kentucky fielding error that scored to redshirt senior Skylar Coberley.
After EKU took the lead, Central Michigan tied the game back up with a single from Grace Koenig scoring Coberley in the bottom of the fourth.
Eastern Kentucky took the lead in top of the seventh inning as it would scrape across three runs. These runs turned out to be the deciding runs for EKU.
Senior Grace Lehto began her 2024 campaign with a loss in the circle. Lehto pitched 6.1 innings, giving up six runs, five of them being earned while securing six strikeouts.
Koenig went a perfect in her debut as a Chippewa, going 3-for-3 with an RBI.
Game 2
The Chippewas fell to host South Alabama, 10-0 in four and a half innings in their second game on Friday.
South Alabama took a big early lead, scoring seven runs in the first inning.
After a few scoreless innings, South Alabama added three runs in the bottom of the fourth and after CMU produced no runs in the top of the fifth the game ended with a run rule.
The Chippewas struggled at the plate, only securing five hits in the matchup. However, freshman Keira Tolmie had a successful debut for CMU, going 2-for-2 at the plate.
Freshman Brooklyn Compau registered the loss in the circle in her first college start, giving up seven runs off of five hits and two walks.
Game 3
Day two of the South Alabama Invitational started off with a high scoring affair along with a rematch with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels where the Chippewas fell 15-12 on Saturday.
After EKU took the two run lead in the first inning, Central Michigan quickly responded in the next inning with two of its own to tie the game.
The Colonals answered with two runs of their own and took the lead back.
After both teams scored four runs each in the third, Eastern Kentucky crossed the plate five times to bring the lead up to 13-6.
The Chippewas were not done yet as they found some offense and responded with a five-run inning themselves to cut the deficit to two.
However, the comeback effort wasn't enough as EKU added two more runs in the bottom half of the inning to seal the 15-12 win.
Compau started the game and went two innings where she gave up seven runs.
Junior Allyssa Hollo went 3-4 with 2 RBIs in the loss.
Hollo found success throughout the whole tournament, making the all-tournament team. In the five game stretch, Hollo batted a .467 batting average while registering seven hits and two RBIs.
Game 4
CMU faced another loss in its second game on Saturday as it fell 6-1 to UAB.
The Chippewas stared the game hot as Keira Tolmie scored her sister Abbey Tolmie off of a triple to give the Chippewas 1-0 lead.
Alabama Birmingham quickly respond with four runs in the bottom half of the inning and added one run in the fourth and fifth inning to make the score 6-1.
Lehto went all seven innings giving up six runs on two hits and four walks while securing five strikeouts.
Tailynn Knapp provided a spark for CMU at the bottom of the lineup, going 2-3 in the loss.
Game 5
Looking to end the weekend on a high note, Central Michigan got its first win of the season with a 6-5 win over Mid-American Conference opponent Northern Illinois.
NIU scored a run in each of the first five innings.
Central Michigan scored two in the second to tie the game at two heading into the third.
Taking momentum from the previous inning, the Chippewas scored four in the third as Coberley started out the scoring with an RBI single that scored Koenig.
Junior Madelyn Wallace registered the win in the circle, pitching 5.1 innings giving up five runs.
She handed the ball off to Grace Lehto who came in and shut the door after the Huskies loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth.
Coberley had a huge game going 2-3 with three RBI's in the win.
The Chippewas head to Tucson, Arizona for the Hillenbrand Invitational where they will begin action on Friday at noon against Indiana.
