The Hillsdale College softball team made history over spring break with its best conference start in 25 years. The Chargers swept Lake Superior State Lakers in their GLIAC opener, defeated the Tiffin University Dragons on Tuesday, but split their games against the Northwood University Timberwolves, putting them at 5-1 in conference games and 10-4 overall.
The opening victory against Lake Superior State was an uphill battle, with the Chargers pulling ahead in the last three innings of the game. The strong team effort carried into the second game against the Lakers, which ended in the fifth inning 10-1, invoking the NCAA’s mercy rule.
Head coach Joe Abraham said the fifth-inning victory was rewarding for the team, especially after the more difficult opening game. Junior first baseman Cassie Asselta, freshman second baseman Amanda Marra, and sophomore catcher Kelsey Gockman each scored two runs for Hillsdale, contributing to the high score of the second game.
“We jumped out to a big first-inning lead and came out hitting the ball,” Abraham said. “Some games you hit and some you don’t, and from that first inning we just hit their pitcher hard and that pretty much put the the game away right there. That was nice for us because we had to struggle to win game one that day.”
Despite three runs in the second half of the opener against Northwood, Asselta said the team showed perseverance, earning them a 7-4 victory in the second game.
“The first three innings were kind of rough on the defensive aspect,” Asselta said. “We just weren’t quite there. Our bats weren’t alive yet. Halfway through the game we pulled it together. Coming back and winning the second game was huge. Even though it wasn’t a sweep like we wanted, at that point it was still 3-1 instead of 2-2.”
The Chargers swept Tiffin University on Tuesday, with senior pitchers Sarah Gruenert and Sarah Klopfer giving up only one earned run in 14 innings.
“Both of our Sarahs — Klopfer and Gruenert — have had fantastic pitching,” Abraham said. “They both have a lot of pressure and no margin for error because it’s just the two of them pitching. They’re keeping us in every single game, and they’re making great pitches, and they’re both using all three years of their experience and bringing it to the table.”
Well-timed hits by Asselta and Marra also contributed to strong games against Tiffin, as Asselta had a four-hit game and Marra hit a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning.
“Amanda can be counted on to hit the ball — and hit the ball hard — almost every at-bat, no matter who’s pitching,” Abraham said. “She’s a great person to have in the middle of the order because she drives in runs at key times over and over.”
Although both games against Tiffin were low-scoring, Abraham said players’ batting strategy served the team well at critical points in the game.
“Sometimes it’s not a matter of hitting — sometimes it’s being smart and figuring out a way to get on base,” Abraham said. “So just standing up there and not swinging at bad pitches played a big role in winning that second game.”
Junior Bekah Kastning said patient hitting paid off against Tiffin, allowing the Chargers to take the lead in the sixth inning of the second game.
“Both games, we just continued to hit the pitcher really well,” she said. “It didn’t matter if they were getting caught, or if we were grounding out, we just hit really well and never gave up. That was really important the second game, because they were beating us 2-0 for six innings, and we were hitting really well, but we were just hitting it to people and they were making really good plays.”
Abraham said the team’s strong offensive lineup bodes well for the challenging schedule ahead.
“We have almost our entire lineup hitting really well. We’re scoring almost seven runs per game on average, which is just unheard of. That won’t continue — there’s no way to average seven runs a game for a whole season, but we just have hitters up and down the lineup who are getting the job done.”
