Two road wins on Thursday (April 18) kept Ashland University's softball team in position for a spot in the 2024 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
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Wins by counts of 14-4 and 11-4 at Lake Erie moved the Eagles to 18-21 overall and 11-9 in the league – now two games ahead of No. 9 Tiffin in the conference standings. Ashland has beaten the Storm seven straight times, and is 26-1 against Lake Erie (3-27, 3-13) all-time.
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In the opener, senior catcher
Jordyn Severns tied the program record with five hits. Freshman left fielder
Delaney Maynard also had five hits at Tiffin on April 7 – giving the 2024 Eagles the distinction of being the first edition in program history to have two players with a five-hit contest.
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Game 1 saw Ashland score single runs in the top of the first and third innings. Junior designated hitter
Cassidy Shaffer brought in the first run with a single, then freshman left fielder
Delaney Maynard drove in the second run with a double.
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The Storm scored three times in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead for the first time at 3-2. Sophomore pinch-hitter
Amanda Kolar, however, put the Eagles back on top in the very next half-inning with a three-run home run, her first of the season and of her Eagle career.
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Lake Erie scored a run in the bottom of the fifth and had the bases loaded with no outs, but a groundout and a double play kept AU in the lead. The Eagles then loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the sixth, and the end result was a five-spot – a two-single from Severns, a wild pitch to score a third run in the inning, and RBI safeties by Maynard and Kolar.
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Ashland tacked on four insurance runs in the top of the seventh when Severns collected her program-record-tying fifth hit, a single, and drove in two runs, Kolar added a run-scoring groundout, and freshman third baseman
Sophia Martin lifted a sacrifice fly.
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Game 2 was much of the same, starting with a Severns steal of home and an RBI single from freshman catcher
Delaney Keith in the top of the first. Lake Erie got a run back in the bottom of the first, but the Eagles returned the favor on an RBI single from junior first baseman
Lily Rockwell in the top of the third.
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The Storm scored a run in the bottom of the third, but freshman pitcher
Madison Milligan entered with runners on second and third and got out of the jam. That allowed Ashland to extend its lead to six runs in the top of the fourth following a Severns run-scoring single, a Kolar run-plating double, a Keith single which drove in two, and an RBI single from junior right fielder
Laney Eller.
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A Kolar RBI groundout in the fifth made it a 9-2 game, then back-to-back solo home runs from freshman pinch-hitter
Taylor Mullins and Kolar in the seventh provided AU's final runs of the day.
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POST-GAME NUGGETS
- The Eagles stole nine bases as a team in Game 1, coming from six different players. Two each were pilfered by sophomore second baseman Danielle Robbins, Maynard and sophomore center fielder Ashley Veldheer.
- Severns was 5-for-5 with two doubles, four RBIs and four runs scored in the first game, Maynard went 4-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored, Kolar was 2-for-3 with a homer and a career-high five RBIs despite not starting the game, and Robbins finished 3-for-5 and scored three times.
- Junior pitcher Bryn Grabowski (7-4) went the first four innings for the win, and sophomore pitcher Mady Hannahs earned her first save in going the final three frames.
- With eight more steals in Game 2 (three from Severns), Ashland had 17 in the doubleheader and has 68 for the season – two away from tying the 2017 team (70) for the most in program history.
- Kolar and Keith each drove in three runs in the nightcap, and Milligan (4-3) tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for the Game 2 victory.
UP NEXT
Back to Deb Miller Field at the Archer Ballpark Complex on Saturday (April 20) at 1 p.m. for a conference doubleheader vs. Ohio Dominican (28-10, 14-6). The 1990 Great Lakes Valley Conference-winning team will be honored prior to Game 1.
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