WINTER PARK, Fla. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team dropped both games at Rollins on Monday night. The Cardinals (6-4) fell in game one 9-3 and 9-8 in game two.
GAME 1: Rollins 9, SVSU 3
The Cardinals scored a run in each of the first three innings to take a 3-0 lead early. The first run came off a single to right center from Olivia Elliott (Baroda, Mich. / Berrien Springs HS) that scored Aalana Kimble in the top half of the first inning.
Ella Schneider (Southfield, Mich. / Berkley HS) knocked in the insurance run with a home run to center field in the 2nd-inning.
Kenzie Bromley (Petoskey, Mich. / Petoskey HS) hit a two-out single through the left side to bring Kimble home in the third inning for the three-run lead.
Rollins responded with an RBI single down the right field line for the team's first score of the game. The game-tying hit came with a two-out double that scored both baserunners in the home half of the third.
The Tars took their first lead in the fifth inning with four runs to build a 7-3 advantage. The first came on a bases-loaded hit by pitch. Two more crossed the plate with a single to right center and a pickle at second scored the fourth.
A single to left field and a ground out with runners at the corners scored two more in the sixth inning, and Rollins held onto the edge through the final inning to record the win.
Kimble, Bromley, and Schneider led game one with two hits. Schneider added an RBI with her home run, and Bromley also brought a runner home.
Macy Irelan (L, 2-2) got the start in the circle for the Cardinals. She went 4.0 innings with one strikeout while surrendering five runs on nine hits. Elliott pitched an inning of relief, as did Makenzie Cammenga (Hudsonville, Mich. / Hudsonville HS).
GAME 2: Rollins 9, SVSU 8
Game two saw a similar pattern from game one, with SVSU jumping out to a quick lead in the first few innings. The Cardinals scored four runs in the first and another in the second to go ahead 5-0.
Bromley belted a grand slam in the first for the 4-0 lead after the bases were loaded with two outs.
Mya Purdy (Chelsea, Mich. / Chelsea HS) walked with the bases loaded in the second to score Natalie Savage (Howell, Mich. / Howell HS), and the lead was extended to five going into the home half of the second.
Rollins trimmed the lead in that half with a single and a groundout that scored two runs to put the score at 5-2.
The Tars took the lead in the third with four runs on two singles and a double to flip the advantage to one run for Rollins.
Emma Helvie (Markle, Ind. / Huntington North HS) singled through the left side with runners on the corners to score Kimble and tie the game at six in the fourth.
Two runs would score off a Cardinal error, and the score would sit at 8-6 going into the final three innings of play.
Savage hit a home run in the fifth to cut the deficit in half. Purdy would then walk and score on a wild pitch in the sixth to knot things up at eight.
Rollins responded with an RBI-double to center field in the bottom half to put the score at 9-8, where it would stand through the final inning.
Kimble recorded another game with three hits as she finished 3-for-4 at the plate with a run scored. Jenna Morse (Bay City, Mich. / Bay City Central HS), Elliott, Helvie, Bromley, Schneider, Kate Pnacek (Coleman, Mich. / Coleman HS), and Savage all recorded a hit for SVSU.
Kimble (L, 4-1) suffered her first loss in the circle after going the full six innings. She surrendered 10 hits and six earned runs while striking out seven batters.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals get a day off before beginning play at the Space Coast Complex in Melbourne, Florida, on Wednesday, March 4. SVSU will face Charleston (W. Va.) at 2:30 p.m. and finish up with Davis & Elkins at 4:45 p.m. (ET).