Game 2 Comeback Lifts Softball To Sweep, Gives Knerem 100 Career Wins

The two wins for Ashland University's softball team over Lake Erie on Tuesday (April 4) were significant for a few reasons:
 
- They moved the Eagles to above .500 in Great Midwest Athletic Conference play at 7-5.
- They kept Ashland undefeated at the new Deb Miller Field at the Archer Ballpark Complex at 6-0.
- They gave the Eagles (13-19 overall) one more win after 32 games this season than in all of last season – with 16 regular-season games to play.
- And they gave Ashland head coach Emlyn Knerem an even 100 victories guiding the Eagles.
 
"It's obviously always good to get the sweep," said Knerem, whose team is 11-7 in its last 18 games after a 2-12 start to 2023. "But 100's really sweet, and the way that we did it in comeback fashion. It was a team effort, and that makes it more special."
 
History was made in the bottom of the first inning of the first game, as sophomore designated player Cassidy Shaffer launched the Eagles' first home run, a three-run shot, at the new ballpark. Lake Erie (6-20, 1-9) got on the board with a run in the top of the third, but senior third baseman Hailey Struckman got the run back in the bottom of the third with a run-scoring double. Then, in the fifth, Shaffer brought another run home with a double.
 
In the sixth, the Eagles scored four times to end the game one inning early. Sophomore left fielder Chloe McClure scored on a passed ball, Struckman added a sacrifice fly and Shaffer drove in two more runs with a single.
 
The nightcap saw the Storm break the scoreless tie with a run in the top of the fourth. Ashland got out of a first-and-third, no-out jam in the sixth to keep it a 1-0 game, then Shaffer's RBI groundout in the bottom of the frame knotted Game 2 at 1. Junior catcher Jordyn Severns was key in the whole inning – getting a pickoff in the top and rapping a triple and scoring in the bottom.
 
With out in the bottom of the seventh, senior right fielder Haylee Frost stepped up and drove in the winning run with a single.
 
NOTABLES

• In Game 1, Shaffer was 3-for-3 with a double, home run, six RBIs and a run scored at the plate, and came in for her first career save by getting the last four outs in order.
• Struckman was 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored.
• Senior pitcher Kayla Ruperto (3-5) went the first 4 2/3 innings, giving up four hits, a run and no walks and striking out four.
• In Game 2, sophomore shortstop Maddy Burdette, McClure and Frost each had two of AU's eight hits. Senior pitcher Josie Duncan (5-5) went the final three innings, allowing three hits, no runs and no walks and striking out two.

 
QUOTABLES

• "We've said how much potential this team has and how much talent we have," Knerem said. "I think they're getting comfortable. They're settling in. They're really confident in themselves and each other. We can only go up from here."
• Frost said, "It felt amazing. I got up there, I knew I had to do something. It's a clutch situation. It feels good. This team has the fight."
• "It's such a great feeling. We work so hard as a team, she works so hard to coach us," Shaffer said. "I'm just so happy for her. Just to be able to go in there and hit the ball…and then seeing Kayla out there, kicking butt, made me want to go out there and do what she was doing and finish it up for her."

 
UP NEXT
Ashland will play at Cedarville (12-16, 6-2) on Saturday (April 8) at noon.