Finishing a long Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference road trip on Monday (April 19), Ashland University's softball team split a doubleheader at Ferris State, winning 4-0 and losing 7-4.
Ashland is 9-17 overall and 6-10 in the GLIAC, while the Bulldogs are 11-16, 4-13. The Eagles are 7-6 since starting 2021 at 2-11, and are 6-4 over the last 10 contests.
The Eagles jumped on top in the first game, thanks to an RBI ground out from senior second baseman
Emma Lawson in the top of the second inning, then a three-run home run from sophomore designated player
Kayla Ruperto, her team-high third of the season.
In the bottom of the sixth, freshman pitcher
Jillian Middleton preserved the shutout by getting out of a no-out, runners-on-second-and-third jam thanks to a pop out, ground out and fly out. Middleton (3-8) finished off her first collegiate blanking, twirling a three-hitter with three walks and seven strikeouts.
Of AU's nine hits, Ruperto, senior left fielder
Alli Hylton and Middleton, the top three in the lineup, each had two.
In Game 2, the Bulldogs jumped on top first, scoring three times in the bottom of the first. The Eagles, however, scored three runs of their own in the top of the third on a Middleton RBI single and a two-run single from sophomore right fielder
Haylee Frost.
Ferris State broke the tie with a run in the bottom of the fourth, then extended its lead with three more tallies in the bottom of the fifth. Trailing 7-3 with two innings left, the Eagles started their comeback attempt in the top of the sixth with an RBI groundout from sophomore pitcher
Josie Duncan, but it ended there.
Hylton went 3-for-3 in the Eagles' 11-hit attack, while freshman third baseman
Hailey Krinn and Lawson each were 2-for-3. Ruperto (3-5) allowed six hits, four runs and a walk and struck out three in 3 1/3 innings.
Ashland will begin a lengthy homestand on Wednesday (April 21) at 3 p.m. vs. Northwood (19-9, 11-7).
AU
SB/DS
