UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team celebrated Senior Day with two wins over Purdue Northwest on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals (31-13, 20-4 GLIAC) defeated the Pride (25-21, 11-11 GLIAC) 6-1 and 5-3 to improve to 31 wins overall and 20 in league play. It is the fifth-straight 30-win season and second consecutive 20-win GLIAC mark for SVSU.
GAME 1: SVSU 6 – PNW 1
Purdue Northwest took the 1-0 lead to begin the top half of the third inning with a solo home run to left center.
Ella Reifschneider (Hudsonville, Mich. / Hudsonville HS) swiped the advantage in the home half of the third with a triple to left center that scored Aalana Kimble (Kentwood, Mich. / East Kentwood HS) and Emily Beckas (Troy, Mich. / Avondale HS) for a 2-1 score.
Kimble scored in the bottom of the fifth to extend the edge to 3-1, before she tripled down the right-field line in the sixth to score Faith Maloney (Macomb, Mich. / Dakota HS) and Emma Bolding (Greenfield, Ind. / Eastern Hancock HS), and pushed the margin to 5-1. Kimble scored another run on the next play when Reifschneider singled to center and put the score where it would remain until things went final.
Kimble (W, 15-7) recorded her 14th complete game in the circle and her 15th win for the Cardinals. She allowed six hits and only one run with six strikeouts to earn the win. Kimble continued to have the hot bat for SVSU, as she finished 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI. Reifschneider recorded two hits and three RBI in her three at-bats. Mya Purdy (Chelsea, Mich. / Chelsea HS), Ella Schneider (Southfield, Mich. / Berkley HS), Kate Pnacek (Coleman, Mich. / Coleman HS), and Maloney tallied a hit in the game.
GAME 2: SVSU 5 – PNW 3
The finale was much closer than the first game with SVSU edging out the Pride, 5-3. Olivia Elliott (Baroda, Mich. / Berrien Springs HS) got things going with a three-run bomb to left center in the bottom half of the first to give the Cardinals the early lead.
PNW chipped away at the deficit, scoring one run in the second off a double to left center and two more off a single to the same spot in the fourth to even things up for the last three innings of play.
Pnacek responded with an RBI double to left field in the home half of the fifth that scored Schneider and Purdy and put SVSU back on top, 5-3.
The Pride threatened in the seventh with a lead-off single and then a double to put runners in scoring position with the winning run at the plate with no outs.
Macy Irelan (Owosso, Mich. / Owosso HS) (W, 13-4) forced a pop-up to second base, then a 10th strikeout to slow down the PNW rally. She capped things off with a flyout to left field to seal the win and the sweep.
Elliott (2-for-4), Purdy (2-for-3), and Pnacek (2-for-3) led offensively with two base hits each. Elliott scored one run while securing three RBI as well. Pnacek had two RBI, and Purdy scored once to contribute to the win. Jenna Morse (Bay City, Mich. / Bay City Central HS), Emma Helvie (Markle, Ind. / Huntington North HS), and Schneider tallied hits.
Irelan went the complete 7.0 innings, her 13th of the season, and surrendered 11 hits, two earned runs, and one walk to go along with her 10 strikeouts. It is the third double-digit strikeout performance for her this year.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals will host Wayne State in a GLIAC doubleheader on Friday, May 1, beginning at 3:00 p.m. (ET), before concluding the regular season with two more games against the Warriors in Detroit on Saturday.
