Chippewas honor breast cancer awareness in weekend doubleheader
CMU softball splits two games between Mid-American Conference newcomer UMass
Central Michigan University junior outfielder Emma Lotus leads off of second base during a softball game against the University of Massachusetts in Margo Jonker Stadium on Saturday, April 11, 2026. (CM-Life | Trevor Sparks)
With the sun out, temperatures at 55 degrees and the crowd wearing pink for breast cancer awareness, the Central Michigan softball team gave a warm welcome to the University of Massachusetts Minutewomen at Margo Jonker Stadium for a doubleheader.
“(It was) great to play on a day where it's nice and a lot of people just come out and watch us play,” head coach McCall Salmon said. “I think we have a really good product that we put on the field, and our players are fun to watch.”
Salmon said the breast cancer awareness cause was personally important to her and the team.
“I lost my aunt back in November to breast cancer, and I know we have a lot of players on our team that have personal experiences, too,” she said. “It's just always great to recognize a cause and know that we play for something bigger than ourselves.”
The Chippewas opened the three-game series by splitting the doubleheader with a 5-3 loss and a 7-2 win.
CMU was able to jump ahead in the first game, with senior Cierra Laska and junior Rachel Cairo both scoring runs in the second inning.
The game seemed to be favoring the Chippewas early, as UMass didn’t record a hit through the first two innings.
However, in the following two innings, the Minutewomen scored four runs to overtake the lead.
Even with a solo home run from sophomore Alexa Carter, the effort wasn’t enough as UMass added another run to win by two.
Salmon felt that the team could have done better in the first game.
“First game, we go up on them and unfortunately made a couple mistakes defensively and weren't able to close the door and then respond offensively,” she said.
The second game started similarly for the Chippewas, giving up just three hits in the first four innings.
CMU's offense also started slowly, recording just one hit until the bottom of the fourth inning.
However, with two players on base, Carter drove in two runs with a double.
That hit sparked a rally that ended with three more runs, pushing the lead to 5-0.
Even with two UMass runs in the top of the fifth inning, CMU extended its lead with a two-run single from Laska in the bottom of the next inning.
Laska also closed out the game, shutting out the Minutewomen in the final inning without giving up a hit.
Salmon was already looking ahead to the third game of the series following the win.
“Coming back game two and making sure we got to split on the day still sets us up to win the series,” she said.
The Chippewas return to Margo Jonker Stadium tomorrow at 1 p.m. to finish the Mid-American Conference series against the Minutewomen.
