Softball Rallies For Home Split With Yellow Jackets

Having lost the first game, 9-5, and facing a potential no-hitter in the second game on Tuesday (April 26) at Brookside Park against Cedarville, Ashland University's softball team showed off its resiliency and rallied for a 5-3 victory to earn a doubleheader split.
 
The Eagles are 9-20 overall and 3-13 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, and the Yellow Jackets are 22-17, 7-11.
 
Ashland scored five runs in the bottom of the fifth inning of Game 2, all of them following a dropped foul ball which would have been the third out, to improve to 3-3 in the last six games.
 
"I think we're having good quality at-bats," said Ashland head coach Emlyn Knerem. "We're definitely getting some good performances from (senior) Hannah (Fricke) on the mound. She's keeping us in ball games.
 
"We've stayed hungry and we've battled back, and that's been really nice to see."
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• The Eagles broke the scoreless tie in Game 1 in the bottom of the second inning, as freshman shortstop Maddy Burdette's two-run double to the gap opened the scoring, then Burdette came home on a passed ball to make it a 3-0 game.
• Cedarville came right back with a six-spot in the top of the third, then the Yellow Jackets added another run in the fourth. A two-run seventh for Cedarville was followed by two more Eagle runs to end the game – Burdette, who was 2-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and two RBIs, scoring on another passed ball, and an RBI ground out by freshman second baseman Laney Eller.
• In Game 2, the first runs came from Cedarville, a two-spot in the top of the fourth. Ashland rallied to tie the game at 2 in the bottom of the fifth on senior center fielder Jamie Rutherford's two-run single, then took a 3-2 lead later in the frame on junior right fielder Lauren McMillin's run-scoring single.
• "Jamie had a great at-bat there, and really took advantage of that mistake," Knerem said. "That's what teams have been doing to us. It was our turn, which was really nice to see."
• Later in the fifth, junior third baseman Hailey Struckman launched a two-run opposite-field home run to extend the AU advantage to 5-2. Cedarville scored once in the top of the sixth, but Fricke (2-4) made that lead stand up, allowing nine hits, three runs and a walk and striking out five in seven innings.
• Fricke, who joined the team in early February and hadn't pitched since her senior year of high school, has given up just five earned runs in the last three starts (20 innings).
• "I finally feel like I'm finally getting into a rhythm," said Fricke.

 
UP NEXT
Ashland's final home game of the 2022 season, on Wednesday (April 27) at 1 p.m. vs. Trevecca Nazarene (24-15, 8-8). Those will be the Eagles' seventh and eighth games since Friday (April 22).
 
"We're playing a lot. For some reason, this last week of classes is the busiest for them," Knerem said. "They've got a lot going on, but they're doing a good job."
 
Said Rutherford, "We needed this one to boost our confidence a little bit. It's a lot better to play back-to-back-to-back. The break…it kind of messes with us. We just want to go out on a good note."