One weekend into their season, and the Hillsdale College softball team has already broken a school record. On Sunday, the Chargers tallied 23 runs over Mercy College, the most runs scored in a game in program history.
The Chargers went 3-1 in Florence, South Carolina, last weekend — finishing on top in their first tournament of the season. The team won its opener against Fairmont State 11-5, then lost to Francis Marion University 5-1 on Saturday. On Sunday, the Chargers defeated Mercy College 23-3 in five innings, and defeated Fairmont again 9-4.
In the opening game against Fairmont State, a strong performance by the entire lineup led to victory. Contributing players included junior first baseman Cassie Asselta’s grand slam and multi-hit games for sophomore catcher Kelsey Gockman, freshman second baseman Amanda Marra, and freshman outfielder Carly Gouge.
“Anytime Kelsey was up to bat, we were just waiting to see how far it would go,” Asselta said.
Senior Danielle Garceau said that the Chargers played off one another’s successes, with the close-knit team chemistry helping lead to victory.
“Our strongest point is building off of one another,” Garceau said. “We picked each other up, we encourage each other when someone made a great play, and we just blended together as a team really quickly.”
Freshman outfielder Katie Kish said that both pitchers endured throughout the weekend, pushing through challenges to throw well in all four games. Senior pitcher Sarah Klopfer had a strong weekend on the mound, with no walks and three strikeouts in seven consecutive innings of the first game.
Head coach Joe Abraham said that the loss against Francis Marion resulted from both the opponent’s good pitching and the team’s lack of timely hitting. Over the course of the game, the Chargers left ten runners on base.
“We were fighting a good pitcher,” he said. “We also failed to capitalize on scoring opportunities.”
Francis Marion lost their game against Mercy College 1-0, while Hillsdale defeated Mercy 23-3.
The Chargers scored 23 runs in the five innings played against Mercy College, ending the tournament on a strong note.
Overall, Abraham said he was pleased with the team’s performance, considering that the batters had not faced live pitching in a game situations since October. Abraham also noted that the other teams in the tournament had been practicing outdoors, something the Chargers have been unable to do so far this season.
“It was so nice to play on a field,” Garceau said. “I can honestly say we all missed the dirt and grass.”
Abraham said both he and volunteer assistant coach Jim Zoltowski were very pleased with the tournament results.
“As Coach Z said after the last game, we couldn’t be any more proud of our team,” Abraham said. “We’ve been practicing on a gym floor for a month, and we went out and endured 18 hours of travel, got up, played two games, and did it again on Saturday.”
Next week, the team will face strong competition in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Henderson said that in addition to the challenge of facing tough teams, the Chargers will have to readjust to indoor practice.
“Once you’ve played outside in the South, it’s difficult to practice again on a small gym floor,” he said.
Garceau said that she hopes the team will carry the momentum into the next tournament.
“Opening weekend is usually either come out with a bang or it can be a slow start, and we started like we were already in the middle of the season,” she said. “All the freshmen really stepped up to the expectations, the upperclassmen kept the expectation high and pushed everyone. It was a full team effort, every game.”
