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Printer-Friendly ModeSoftball team takes 3 of 4 in Ohio, 'excited' for first home games
Cardinals have won 9 of 10 as they prepare for five-match homestand
April 2, 2007 —
Thanks to Kari Bowlby, the SVSU softball team is back on another winning streak.
The Cardinals' freshman pitcher threw 9.2 innings of shutout ball at Findlay Sunday, helping her team to a sweep of the Oilers. Combined with a victory in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against Ashland, the wins gave SVSU a three-game winning streak heading into their five-match homestand.
The weekend's games were the first in the Cards' GLIAC schedule and were a tuneup for SVSU's match at Oakland on Thursday. The Cards head into the doubleheader winners of nine of their last 10.
Bowlby pitched a complete game in the first game on Sunday, allowing just three hits and striking out eight as the Cards won 8-0. After Findlay chased starter Mallory Miller with a five-run fifth inning in the second game, Bowlby shut down the Oilers for 2.2 innings, allowing a hit and striking out five as SVSU came back for a 9-6 victory. She went the distance in the second game against Ashland on Saturday, allowing two runs on five hits and striking out six in the 4-2 win.
"Kari was very, very good this weekend," coach Bill Graham said. "She held a real good hitting team, Ashland, to two runs and stepped up [Sunday]. She just pitched her game and made people get themselves out and sprinkled in some strikeouts."
The Cardinals' offense took several innings to get going in the first game, as the Oilers' Michele Jordan allowed just two hits and one run in the first three innings. Their bats came alive in the fourth, though, as junior Cassidy Baker hit a two-run, two-out double that scored sophomore Vanessa Briggs and junior Emma Persons. Freshman Billi Hoeppner singled in Baker before the inning was over to give the Cards a 4-0 lead that the Oilers could not put a dent in.
SVSU scored twice more in the sixth and seventh innings each to push the final to 8-0. The runs gave the Cards momentum heading into the second game, as they exploded for six runs in the first two innings to go up 6-0 on the Oilers.
Hoeppner and fellow freshman Angela Kaiser started the Cards off in both innings. The team's first two hitters began each inning by reaching base and scoring as the Cards chased Oilers pitcher Jenna Binz after just two innings.
The Cards' lead looked safe until the fifth, when the Oilers, down 6-1, put up two runs before getting an out. After Jaccie Tufts struck out, the Oilers used consecutive doubles to score three more runs to tie the game and chase Miller. Bowlby came on in relief and struck out the next two batters to end the Findlay run.
SVSU was unable to respond in the fifth, but finally got to the Oilers' Stephanie Heydinger in the sixth. Freshman Jordan Stuart reached on an error with the bases loaded, scoring Baker. Persons followed with a two-run single to left that scored Stuart and sophomore Jessica Anhel before Heydinger stopped the bleeding.
The damage was too much with Bowlby on the mound. Jeanne Hilvers led off the seventh with a single, but Bowlby struck out the next two batters and got a groundout for the final out of the game.
Bowlby picked up all three wins for the Cards over the weekend, pushing her record to 8-2. With the effort, she lowered her ERA from 2.43 to 2.03 and increased her strikeout total to 65.
In Saturday's second game, she outdueled Ashland's Jaime Williams, who came into the doubleheader 13-2 with a 0.67 ERA and 131 strikeouts in 94 innings. Williams shut out the Cards in the first game, an 8-0, five-inning decision.
Williams went the distance in both games, striking out eight in each game, but Anhel was eventually able to figure her out. The Cards' catcher hit a two-run homer off Williams in the third then knocked in two runs on a two-out single in the fifth.
The loss in the first game was the Cards' first since March 9, and their ability to bounce back for the split was a testament to the team's philosophy, Graham said.
"We're just taking it one game at a time," he said. "We're not looking at it like we have won nine of 10. Nobody's looking ahead and nobody's looking behind."
The Cards played all four of the weekend's games without senior leftfielder Lorelea Rice, who broke a bone in her left hand in practice earlier in the week. The team's lone senior will be out at least two weeks, said Graham, who added that she was scheduled for surgery early in the week.
"It's a big loss, and this weekend was our first test," he said. "Once Lorelea went down, I told the rest of the girls that nobody's going to feel sorry for us."
Hoeppner stepped in for Rice both in left and at the top of the batting order and went 5-for-12 with three runs and an RBI.
"Billi's been hitting nice," Graham said. "She's done a good job at the bottom of the lineup, making things happen. We gave her a chance at the top and she was outstanding this weekend."
After the doubleheader against Oakland, the Cards will stay home for five consecutive GLIAC doubleheaders. They host Mercyhurst, 2-2 in the conference and 10-13 on the season, on Friday and No. 19 Gannon on Saturday. The Golden Knights were swept by Wayne State on Sunday and stand 2-2 in conference play and 18-8 overall.
Friday's doubleheader will be the Cards' first home game.
"I'm excited, the girls are excited, the parents are excited," Graham said. "We're looking for a great atmosphere. Gannon will be a good test, but we can't overlook Mercyhurst."