Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 You don't find swing sets like this at Walmart.
Wednesday (Apr. 16) at Grand Valley State, the AU softball team had 22 hits and enjoyed an 11-run seventh inning on the way to a 19-6 victory over the Lakers in Game 1 of a GLIAC doubleheader. In the second game, the Eagles banged out 10 more hits and had a 3-1 lead heading to the top of the seventh inning before losing, 5-3.
The split leaves the Eagles with a 20-11 record, 9-5 in the GLIAC. Grand Valley State, which has been one of the top teams in the region throughout the season, is 21-6 and 10-2. The 19 runs the Eagles scored in the first game are the most allowed by GVSU since May of 1973. That total is an AU school record.
In the first game, AU was clinging to an 8-6 lead entering the top of the seventh inning. In that frame, Ashland scored 11 runs. The stanza included a three-run homer by outfielder Taylor Menhart, a two-run single by catcher Bri Buckley and a two-run double by second baseman Cayla Seidler.
Seilder and Menhart hit one-two in the AU lineup and they terrorized Laker pitching throughout that first game. Seidler was 5-for-5 with five runs scored, two RBI, two doubles and a triple.
Menhart was 4-for-5 with five RBI, four runs scored, a triple and a homer.
Seidler has collected 26 hits in her last six games. On the year, she's hitting .421 with 13 doubles, two homers and 24 RBI.
Menhart, who has 23 hits in the last six games, is swinging at a .406 clip. She has 10 doubles, three homers and 20 RBI.
Sarah Alley was 2-for-4 and knocked in three runs. First baseman Jen Moore went 3-for-5 with an RBI and outfielder Carly West was 3-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI. Buckley was 2-for-3 with three RBI.
For GVSU, Briauna Taylor and Miranda Cleary belted homers. Taylor was 2-for-3 with three RBI.
The win went to Amber McDermott, who raised her record to 7-1. She gave up two runs on five hits.
Sara Andrasik (9-4) was the losing pitcher.
The Eagles never really stopped hitting in the second game. They collected 10 safeties off of GVSU starter and winner Lauren Gevaart (9-0). But in this game, it was the Lakers who had the better timely hitting. In the top of the seventh, three outs away from being swept, GVSU scored on a fielder's choice, a Jenna Lenza single and a groundout. Another run scored when Taylor was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Seiderl was 2-for-4 and catcher Kourtney Yarnall and shortstop Jamie Weber both went 2-for-3. Alley, Moore and Yarnall all doubled.
Lenza was 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBI.
The Eagles return home for four games this weekend. Friday (Apr. 18, noon), the Eagles will meet Saginaw Valley State at Brookside Park. On Saturday (Apr. 19, noon), Wayne State will be in town.
AU
SB/ALK
