UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich.
– The Saginaw Valley State University softball team
continued play of the postponed game from Saturday (Apr. 3) against
Hillsdale. The Cardinals beat the Chargers 9-2 in seven
innings in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference
(GLIAC) contest.
On Saturday Saginaw Valley fell behind after Hillsdale scored
two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of a homerun.
The Cardinals battled back and scored two runs in the top of the
third to knot the score at two. Senior Billi
Hoeppner (Hemlock, Mich.) started things when she walked and Ashley Jordan (Freeland, Mich.) singled through the
infield to move her to second. Junior Jill
Peterson (Freeland, Mich.) reached first on a fielder's
choice scoring Hoeppner. Senior Angela
Kaiser (Waterford, Mich. / Our Lady of the Lakes HS) stepped in
for Saginaw Valley and sacrifice bunted to score Jordan. The
game remained scoreless until it was postponed due to rain in the
bottom of the fifth inning with runner on first and second, no outs
for Hillsdale.
The game resumed today (Apr. 5) and the Cardinals came out
strong shutting down the first three batters that stepped up to the
plate. The game remained scoreless until the top of the
seventh inning when Saginaw Valley busted open scoring seven runs
on seven hits. Senior Nikki
Bigelow led off the inning with a double to right field.
Hillsdale had an error in the infield that would cause pinch runner
Ashley Coffin (Sterling Heights, Mich. / Stephenson HS)
to score for the Cardinals. Sophomore Lauren
Memmer (White Lake, Mich. / Lakeland HS) reached first on an
error and would come around to score on a hit from Hoeppner.
Jordan singled to right center and Kaiser doubled to left field
scoring both Hoeppner and Jordan. Junior Jessica
McKeith (River Rouge, Mich.) picked up where she left off on
Saturday singling to the shortstop to advance Kaiser to
third. Pinch hitter Monica
Gathright (Baroda, Mich. / KVCC) dug in for Saginaw Valley
bringing around Kaiser and McKeith. The Cardinals hit through
the line up bringing Bigelow up to the plate for the second time in
the inning where she singled to the right side scoring Gathright.
Senior Kari Bowlby (Elkhart, Ind.) got the start in the circle
for the Cardinals pitching four innings with six strike outs and no
walks. Junior Jade
Fulton (Byron, Mich.) came in during the fifth inning to pick
up the win with four strikeouts and giving up only one hit.
Fulton is 10-1 on the season and 4-0 in the GLIAC.
With the win Saginaw Valley improves to 19-2 overall on the
season, and 6-0 in the GLIAC, while Hillsdale falls to 6-14 overall
on the season and 1-5 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals will return
to action on Saturday (Apr. 10) when they take on Tiffin University
for a GLIAC contest. The double-header is scheduled to start
at 1:00 pm.
