FINDLAY, Ohio - The Saginaw Valley State University softball team dropped both matchups Friday (May2) in the 2014 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Tournament. The Cardinals fell 6-2 to Walsh in their opening game before losing 6-1 to Ashland. The double elimination format knocked SVSU out of tournament contention.
Saginaw Valley finishes the season with a 26-11 record and will await regional rankings to be announced on Monday (May 5) morning. The top eight teams in each region will advance to the regional tournament next weekend.
Game One
After five scoreless innings of play, SVSU got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior Lindsay Hayward singled to left field with two outs and no one on to start the Cardinals off. Deanna Stickler-Gatson pinch ran for Hayward bringing up Kari Knight. Knight delivered a double to deep left field that scored Stickler-Gatson from first base. Marcy Medina followed with a single up the middle that plated Claire Coopes-Meske who ran for Knight. SV took a 2-0 lead heading in to the seventh inning.
The Cavaliers erupted for six runs on five hits in the top of the seventh off of Sarah Vrabel and Alexa Gehrls to take a 6-2 lead.
Nicole Romain singled up the middle in the bottom of the inning, but that would be all the Cardinals could muster in the rally effort.
Hayward led SV with two hits in the game,
Sarah Appold, Vrabel and Gehrls combined to give up six runs on eight hits while striking out ten Walsh batters.
Game Two
The second contest of the afternoon began with three complete scoreless innings before Ashland plated four runmers to take an early 4-0 lead.
The Eagles added two more runs on four singles to advance its lead to 6-0 after six innings.
Amanda Best singled to the AU third baseman to earn SVSU a base runner. The junior catcher advanced to second base on a passed ball. Shelby Weeks knocked in Best on a single through the left side to cut the lead by a run, but that is as close as Saginaw Valley would get before Ashland closed out the 6-1 game.
Best registered two hits while Weeks drove in the only run of the matchup.
Appold, Vrabel and Samantha Willman all got in on the game two action, giving up six runs on nine hits while striking out four Eagles collectively.
