KENOSHA, Wis. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team split the GLIAC doubleheader at Parkside on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals (23-11, 12-2 GLIAC) took game one 6-1 before the Rangers (14-22, 5-9 GLIAC) earned a 1-0 win in game two to split the day.
GAME 1: SVSU 6 – Parkside 1
The Rangers took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning with a bases-loaded groundout that scored the game's first run.
SVSU took the lead in the third with three runs on three hits. Ella Reifschneider (Hudsonville, Mich. / Hudsonville HS) got things going with a single to lead off the inning. Kate Pnacek (Coleman, Mich. / Coleman HS) singled to center field to put Reifschneider on second base. Two fielder's choice plays moved Reifschneider to third and then to home to tie the game at one run each.
Emma Helvie (Markle, Ind. / Huntington North HS) hit a two RBI single to right center to score Mya Purdy (Chelsea, Mich. / Chelsea HS) and Pnacek to take a 3-1 lead.
A sacrifice fly to center field by Aalana Kimble (Kentwood, Mich. / East Kentwood HS) put another run on the board in the fourth inning to extend the advantage to 4-1.
A second sacrifice fly to center, this one by Reifschneider, scored a fifth run before Pnacek drove in Jenna Morse (Bay City, Mich. / Bay City Central HS) with a single to center field to put the score where it would sit when the game went final, 6-1.
Reifschneider led offensively with three hits in her three plate appearances, and she scored a run and drove in another. Helvie (2-for-4) and Pnacek (2-for-3) registered two hits, with Helvie adding two RBI in the game.
Macy Irelan (Owosso, Mich. / Owosso HS) (W, 11-4) pitched her 11th complete game to earn her 11th win of the season. Irelan surrendered four hits, no earned runs, and struck out six Rangers on the way to the victory.
GAME 2: Parkside 1 – SVSU 0
The Cardinals threatened early, with Kimble getting on base with a single up the middle to lead off game two. She advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a single to left center from Helvie, but Parkside held her there with the final two outs needed to escape the inning without giving up a run.
Lillia Sherman (Millington, Mich. / Millington HS) hit a double to right center in the fourth inning to get into scoring position, but was stranded there while the Rangers forced three outs to retain the scoreless deadlock.
Helvie singled to left field for her team-best second hit in the game. She was replaced by pinch runner, Madison Wyckoff (Zeeland, Mich. / Zeeland West HS), who was stranded at second base when the third out was registered and the game moved into the home-half of the sixth inning with no score.
The Rangers secured the win with a walk-off single to center field that scored the only run of the game and ended things with a 1-0 result for the home team.
Helvie finished 2-for-3 to lead SVSU in the game. Kimble and Sherman each tallied a hit in the losing effort.
Kimble (L, 9-5) got the start in the circle for the Cardinals. She pitched 6.2 innings and gave up three hits and one earned run while striking out four Rangers.
UP NEXT: SVSU remains on the road with a doubleheader against Roosevelt tomorrow, April 12, at 1:00 p.m. (ET).