Ashland University junior pitcher
Delaney Lis' improvement this spring has been evident – and no more evident than in Game 1 of Sunday's (March 30) doubleheader at Thomas More.
Lis threw a complete-game no-hitter in Sunday's opener – the Eagles' first no-hitter since a
Hannah Stroe perfect game eight years and a day earlier – as AU defeated the Saints twice, 6-0 and 18-1 in five innings.
The Eagles are alone in first place in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, and after their 10
th and 11
th victories in the last 12 games, are 19-9 overall and 9-1 in the league. Ashland already has won as many games this season as it did all of 2024 – prior to the start of April.
Thomas More is 11-15, 1-7.
Game 1 saw Ashland strike quickly, as an RBI single from senior designated player
Cassidy Shaffer put the Eagles up 1-0 in the top of the first inning. Junior second baseman
Danielle Robbins made it a 2-0 game in the fifth on her own RBI single.
AU benefitted from a solo home run by sophomore catcher
Sophia Martin, her team-leading third of the season, to make it a 3-0 game in the sixth. Shaffer then launched her first round-tripper of 2025, a three-run shot, in the seventh for the final margin of victory.
Lis (10-2) had a perfect game through 6 1/3 frames, and ended with six strikeouts and no walks.
In the second game, Shaffer once again gave AU a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI hit. A two-out, two-run double from junior third baseman
Amanda Kolar, then a run-scoring single from senior left fielder
Laney Eller later in the first, made it a 4-0 game.
Robbins' RBI single upped the AU lead to 5-0 in the second, Shaffer struck again with an RBI single later in the frame, Kolar walked with the bases loaded, and sophomore shortstop
Sophia Smithnosky added a two-run single to make it 9-0 after an inning and a half.
The offensive explosion continued in the third, as Martin walked with the bases loaded, senior first baseman
Lily Rockwell had an RBI single in the same situation, Eller picked up another RBI on a Saints error, and junior center fielder
Ashley Veldheer added an RBI single for a 13-0 lead.
Kolar's two-run double and Smithnosky's RBI single in the fourth made it a 16-0 contest. Rockwell then walked with the bases loaded, and Kolar had an RBI fielder's choice, in the fifth for an 18-0 score.
QUITE A BIT OF OFFENSE, TOO…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- In the opener, Robbins was 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored, Shaffer was 2-for-4 with a homer, four RBIs and a run scored, and sophomore left fielder Delaney Maynard ended 2-for-3 with a triple and two runs scored.
- Game 2 saw Shaffer go 4-for-4 with four runs scored and two RBIs, and also improve to 4-0 after authoring a six-hitter with four strikeouts.
- Kolar drove in six runs in going 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored, Smithnosky was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Rockwell scored four times while ending 2-for-2 with a double and two RBIs.
- Ashland's 18 runs are its most in a game since 19 vs. Grand Valley State in 2014.
- In the first 28 games of 2025, the Eagles have plated 184 runs. In all 47 games of 2024, they scored 192 runs.
UP NEXT
A non-conference doubleheader at Deb Miller Field at the Archer Ballpark Complex vs. Indianapolis (23-13) at 2 p.m. on Wednesday (April 2).
