Mid-American Conference

Saturday's Softball Results

04.11.2015

Akron 1, Buffalo 0
Results

AKRON, Ohio – On the scoreboard as the visiting team, the University of Akron softball team shut out Buffalo, 1-0 in Mid-American Conference play, on a sunny but windy Saturday afternoon at its own Lee R. Jackson Field.

The game, part of a two-game weekend series, was originally supposed to take place in Buffalo. However, the Bulls' field was unplayable. Both games have been moved to Akron.

With the win, the Zips improved to 15-18 overall and 3-5 in Mid-American Conference play. The Bulls fell to 7-27 overall and 0-7 in league play.

After six scoreless innings, Akron scored the game's only run in the top of the seventh as lead-off batter sophomore third baseman Alyssa Nicholas (Cortland, Ohio) hammered her fifth home run of the season over the left center field fence.

The Bulls threatened with one hit in the bottom of the seventh, but the Zips' defense played tough to secure the win.

Junior right-hander Erin Seiler (Bowling Green, Ohio) struck out nine batters and walked one (15-12 overall, 3-5 MAC) while hurling all seven innings.

Overall, both teams had three hits and no errors.

Akron will host Buffalo in a MAC game on Sunday, April 12, at 1 p.m. at Lee R. Jackson Field.


Ball State 5, Bowling Green 0
Results

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - - Junior Nicole Steinbach (Merrillville, Ind./Andrean) picked up her second complete game shutout win of the weekend by guiding the Ball State softball team to a 5-0 victory over Bowling Green Saturday afternoon at Meserve Field.

   After the Falcons (13-18 / 4-5 Mid-American Conference) started the game with three straight singles in the bottom of the first inning, Steinbach buckled down and held the hosts to just one hit the rest of the way. She also tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts, while not allowing a walk to help the Cardinals improved to 20-19 (6-2 MAC).

   “We played team ball today, with a lot of positive energy and had a great result,” Ball State head coach Tyra Perry said. “We were definitely driven by Nicole’s pitching performance. She did an excellent job on the mound, posting 10 strikeouts and keeping Bowling Green off balance the entire day. On offense, we were able to put together timely hits throughout the lineup. I am really excited about Julia Bailey’s first career home run, as she battled hard in the at bat and it paid off in a big way.”

   Junior shortstop Selena Reyna (Houston, Texas/South Houston) opened the game with her 16th double of the season to right-center field, and came around to score the first run of the contest after back-to-back Bowling Green errors. The first was on a grounder to short from senior left fielder Loren Cihlar (St. Charles, Ill./St. Charles North), while the second came on the throw to second on a stolen base by Cihlar.

   Bowling Green looked poised to respond in the bottom of the first, as three straight singles loaded the bases. However, Steinbach found her groove with a pair of strikeouts surrounding a foul fly to freshman third baseman Julia Bailey (Lafayette, La./Teurlings Catholic) to end the inning.

   The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fifth when sophomore center fielder Taylor Cooley (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) almost single-handedly manufactured a run. Cooley opened the inning with a single to left field, and following a BGSU pitching change, stole second after the third pitch when no one was covering the bag on the throw back to the pitcher. Cooley also managed to steal third before scoring on a RBI groundout from Cihlar.

   Bailey would double the Cardinals lead once again in the top of the sixth, blasting her first career home run over the left field wall to push the score to 4-0. After working the count to 3-2, Bailey fouled off four consecutive pitches before going yard. Junior first baseman Sammi Cowger (Fenton, Mich./Fenton) also scored on the play after reaching base on a fielder’s choice.

   Ball State struck for one more run in the top of the seventh inning, capitalizing on another BGSU error to pull ahead 5-0. Reyna reached base on the defensive miscue to open the frame, and advanced to second on a single from junior second baseman Emily Dabkowski (Plainfield, Ind./South Putnam). After a groundout advanced both runners, senior designated player Jessica Craft (LaPorte, Ind./LaPorte) blasted a single off the BGSU third baseman’s glove to plate the final run of the game.

   Steinbach then completed her second straight complete game shutout by striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh.

   The Ball State softball team closes out the two-game weekend series with Bowling Green Sunday, with a scheduled 1 p.m. first pitch at Meserve Field. 

For the most up-to-date news on Ball State softball, follow the team on Twitter: @BallStateSB and @TyraPerry13 / Instagram: ballstatesb / Facebook: BallStateSoftball.

Central Michigan 5, Eastern Michigan 2
Results

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Katelyn Rentschler ripped a two-out three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday to lift the Central Michigan softball team to a 5-2 walk-off victory over Eastern Michigan in a Mid-American Conference softball game at Margo Jonker Stadium.

It was the fifth home run in the last five games for Rentschler, a junior who last week set the CMU school record with three homers in a victory at Ohio.

It was the first walk-off homer that Rentschler has hit, and it came on a 2-2 pitch.

"I was trying to keep my composure around the bases, but once you round third and you see all your teammates waiting for you at the plate, you can't help but smile," she said.

The win was CMU's sixth in its last seven starts and it lifted the Chippewas to 14-16, 4-3 MAC. Eastern is 9-23, 1-5. The teams close their two-game series Sunday at 1 p.m. at Margo Jonker Stadium.

Rentschler's blast was the second dramatic CMU round-tripper in as many innings. Chelsea DeLamielleure tied the game 2-2 with a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth.

"It was a great game for us, it was a great game in a lot of ways," CMU coach Margo Jonker said. "We had a great crowd. We had great weather and then we had a victory. So put it all together, it was a great day from Chippewa softball."

A two-out RBI single by Taylor Wagner gave Eastern a 1-0 lead in the first inning. It stayed that way until the Eagles added a run in he sixth on an Abby Davidson two-out run-scoring single.

"Well I think they didn't give in," Jonker said of her players. "That's key that they stayed in it. In the dugout, energy was there. That's something we really work on, keeping the energy throughout the game."

Trista Cox tripled to lead off the bottom of the sixth. One out later, DeLamielleure homered to tie it.

Kristen Kuhlman drew a two-out walk in the seventh for CMU and Cox followed with a single before Rentschler delivered the dramatic blow to left field.

"She looked really calm and sometimes she can get suckered by a certain pitch, but in that situation she didn't," Jonker said of Rentschler, who was hitless in three trips to the plate before her game-winning shot. "She was in the right frame of mind and was confident. She kept fouling some off and got a pitch she could handle.

"It was a big at-bat, but there were other big at-bats before that."

Rachael Knapp (10-6) allowed eight hits, walked two and struck out eight in earning the win, her ninth in her last 11 decisions.

"I thought she showed good poise and (Eastern) didn't have a lot of hard hits of her," Jonker said. "They had a number of hits, but a lot of them were tweener-like things. Overall, I thought she pitched a good game."

Cox finished with three hits while Sara Hansen had two for the Chippewas.

Lindsay Rich allowed eight hits, walked two and struck out three in taking the loss.

Kent State 9, Ohio 1
Results

KENT, Ohio – Shelbi Tilton hit a home run over the fence in left-center field to leadoff the bottom of the fifth and gave Kent State a 9-1 walk-off win over Ohio on Saturday afternoon.

The Golden Flashes (25-9, 6-2 MAC) hit a season-high five home runs as they carried the offensive momentum built up in Friday's 12-2 win over rival Akron to bring the run-rule into effect after five innings for the second consecutive game. The Flashes pounded out 11 hits in just 23 at-bats.

"I'm really excited about how we came out and took control of the game offensively," said head coach Karen Linder. "I thought Emma did a very good job of keeping a good offensive team off-balance. We took control at the very beginning and maintained control all the way through."

The Flashes scored in the first inning for the third straight game and scored in each inning they went to the plate for the second game in a row.

In the bottom of the first inning, Dani Ramos singled through the right side of the infield and advanced to second on a misplay by the right fielder. The error would not matter, though, as Maddy Grimm sent a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right field for her 10th home run of the season. Holly Speers followed with her fifth homer of the season, also to right field.

Kent State scored once in each of the next two innings to take a 5-0 lead. Kim Kirkpatrick hit a two-out homer in the second, and Speers brought Grimm around to score on a single to left field in the third inning. Grimm was on second base after hitting a double off the wall in center field to leadoff the inning.

The Flashes added three runs in the fourth. Erika Warren just missed her first home run of the season and had to settle for a leadoff double off the left field wall. Ohio looked like it would get out of the inning without allowing any runs after back-to-back outs, but a great battle by Ramos to extend her at-bat and work to a full count ended with a double in the gap in left-center to score pinch runner Emily Dobbin. Grimm followed with her second homer of the day to bring the run-rule into play.

A hit batter and throwing error aided Ohio in scoring in the top of the fifth inning to extend the game. It was short-lived, however, as Tilton crushed the fourth pitch she saw for her third home run of the season to start the bottom of the inning.

The 1-5 batters in Kent State's lineup combined for 10 of its 11 hits in the game. Grimm led the way with a 3-for-3 performance on two homer runs and a double for four RBIs. Ramos, Speers and Tilton added two hits each.

Perhaps overshadowed by the play of the Flashes' lineup was the spectacular pitching performance of Emma Johnson, who threw a one-hitter to earn the victory. Johnson (13-5) had six strikeouts and did not allow an earned run.

Kent State and Ohio will be back in action at the Diamond at Dix on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the finale of the two-game series.

Miami 5, Toledo 0
Results

TOLEDO, Ohio – The Miami University softball team shut out Toledo in a 5-0 victory on Saturday. The RedHawks improve to 23-15 overall and 7-2 in the Mid-American Conference. The Rockets fall to 14-24 overall and 1-8 in the MAC.

Junior pitcher Amber Logemann was the story for Miami on Saturday. She threw another complete game, allowing only two hits while striking out seven. No Toledo runner advanced past second base on the day. Logemann improved to 19-5 on the season and a perfect 7-0 in MAC games.

The RedHawks got on the board with three runs in the top of the second. Senior first baseman Shanyn McIntyre led off with a double to left center. A sacrifice bunt by freshman catcher Rylee Whispel moved her up to third. McIntyre scored when senior third baseman Remy Edwards reached on an error. Senior outfielder Bree Lipscomb followed with her fourth home run of the season, a two-run shot over the leftfield wall that put Miami in front, 3-0.

The ‘Hawks got two more insurance runs in the top of the sixth. With one out and Edwards on second, Lipscomb recorded another RBI with a double to left center. After an out was recorded, senior outfielder Tiyona Marshall singled through the right side to score Lipscomb and finish off the 5-0 win.

Lipscomb finished the game 2-for-3 with three RBI and two runs scored. Marshall was 3-for-4 with one RBI.

Miami looks to complete the series sweep against Toledo on Sunday when they face off at 1 p.m.

Western Michigan 8, Northern Illinois 5
Results

KALAMAZOO, Mich.- The Western Michigan softball team won its fifth straight at home, knocking off Mid-American Conference leader Northern Illinois 8-5 Friday at Fran Ebert Field.

The Broncos totaled 14 hits in the game, including four home runs and four more for extra bases. Sophomore first baseman Marlee Wilson went 3-for-4 with a solo home run and two RBIs. Sophomore left fielder Ivy Schaaf tripled and smashed a three-run home run. Jenny Rohn and Sabrina Gamboa also homered and Taylor Sanicki hit a pair of doubles. Freshman Geordin Craun collected her first career double.

With the win WMU improved its conference record to 5-2 and its overall mark to 13-17. In the West division, Northern Illinois (5-2), Western Michigan and Ball State (5-2) each now have two losses. Ball State faces Bowling Green in games over Saturday and Sunday.

Schaaf led off the Bronco at bat with her first triple of the season and Rohn gave WMU a 2-0 lead, lining a ball out over the fence in right center for her third home run in the last five games. Back-to-back solo home runs by Wilson and Gamboa in the second pushed WMU’s lead to 4-0.

Junior pitcher Allyson Kus retired the first eight batters she faced before giving up a single in the third. The Huskies finally got to Kus in the fourth, using four hits and a walk to tie the game at 4-4. Allyson Hect came through with a two-out, two run single for NIU during the rally.

Western Michigan got the bats going again in the fifth, scoring four runs to retake the lead 8-4. Wilson ripped an RBI single past the first baseman and Schaaf hit a three-run home run with one out, an absolute bomb over the fence in left center.

Freshman Anissa Sanchez relieved Kus in the top of the fifth and went on to retire nine of the 11 batters she faced over the final three innings. She gave up a single to center in the sixth and a solo home run to Caitlyn Warren in the seventh. Sanchez (3-4) struck out two and earned her third win of the season.

Western Michigan chased NIU starting pitcher Jessica Sturm after just 1.1 innings. Keegan Hayes (10-6) threw the rest of the game for the Huskies and took the loss. Hayes allowed 10 hits, four runs, walked two and fanned four batters.

Western Michigan and Northern Illinois conclude the weekend tomorrow with a 1 p.m. first pitch.