Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 ADRIAN, Mich. – The 20th ranked Adrian College softball team continued their winning ways as they opening up their first home series defeating Concordia (Mich.) 4-3 and 8-3. The Bulldogs are now 12-0 to start the season.
Game one saw the Bulldogs take an early 2-0 lead before Concordia rallied back to take a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the 7th. Senior Katie Adams (Flat Rock, Mich./Flat Rock) singled and advanced to second on an error. Freshman Katie Dewyre (Pemberville, Ohio/Eastwood) moved Adams to third on a single and junior Sarah Hall (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon) drove her in on a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
In the top of the 8th, junior Kelly Eberhardt (Wellington, Ohio/Black River) came on in relief of starting pitcher sophomore Jami Shafley (Freeland, Mich./Midland) who allowed only one earned run on five hits over the first seven innings. The use of the tiebreaker rule was applied so the Cardinals started with a runner on second base. After an Adrian error, Eberhardt struck out the next three batters surpass the Adrian career strikeout record of 298 and end the Cardinals threat.
In the bottom half of the inning, senior Kristin Toney (Cassopolis, Mich./Edwardsburg) was placed on second and then moved to third on a sacrifice. Sophomore Amara Karapas (Saline, Mich./Saline) came to the plate and hit a grounder to the shortstop who under-threw to the first baseman, who was unable to pick up the ball, allowing Toney to score the game-winning run.
In the second game, in the bottom of the second, Toney led off the inning with a single and two batters latter Karapas launched her third home run of the season over the left field wall. Adrian would add one in the 3rd and two in the 5th to lead 5-2. After loading the bases in the bottom of the 6th, the Bulldogs scored three runs off three Concordia wild pitches and passed balls. The Cardinals would add one run in the top of the 7th, but the Bulldogs lead was too much to mount a comeback.
Eberhardt earned the victory in both games to move her record to 7-0 on the season as she finished the day with 11 strikeouts. Toney led the Adrian offense going 4-for-5 on the day with three runs and two RBI's. Adams went 3-for-8 in the two games with two runs scored. Junior Laura Heinz (Manchester, Mich./Clinton) was 2-for-6 with a team-high three RBI's. Juniors Maggie Hein (Adrian, Mich./Lenawee Christian) and Katrina Wotten (Blackstock, Ont./Cartwright) were both 2-for-4 on the afternoon.
Adrian will travel to cross-town rival Siena Heights for a double header on March 16 starting at 3:30 pm.
