Softball extends win streak to six games

Home Charger Softball Softball extends win streak to six games
Softball extends win streak to six games

The Hillsdale College softball team is on a six game win streak, after sweeping Davenport University, Walsh University, and Malone University. The Chargers now sit in third in the G-MAC with a 8-1 conference record, 20-17 overall. Ohio Dominican University, 11-1 in conference, is in first place with University of Findlay, 9-1, in second place. 

“I’m proud of how far we’ve come from where we started and where we’re at now,” Head Coach Kyle Gross said. “We had a rough start to the season, but they are playing so well right now, and it’s a credit to them working hard to be where we are right now. We just got over the 500 mark, so we’ve won more than we’ve lost in the season, and they worked super hard to get there.” 

Across the five games, the Chargers scored 37 runs, had 54 hits, and 4 homeruns. 

“Our team is operating business as usual right now,” fifth year senior first baseman and utility player Madison Rathbun said. “We have an incredibly talented offensive lineup with almost every starter hitting above .300 right now. We have the potential to put numbers like that up within any given stretch of games and it’s just really cool to be part of this team.”

The games against Davenport University took place on Thursday, and the Chargers won the games 6-4 and 2-1. 

Freshman pitcher Emma Vis picked up her first collegiate win against Davenport as well. 

“Trying to be loose and have fun with it helped a lot, but it felt good,” Vis said. “It was fun to get to start and get to actually do well.” 

The Saturday and Sundays games got postponed to Sunday and Monday due to weather. The Chargers went 5-0 and 6-3 against Walsh University. The team had 23 strikeouts across two games.  

Freshman pitcher Dani Deaton picked up her first collegiate win, and Rathbun hit two home runs in one of the games.  

“Its really cool to hit homeruns, even cooler to do it twice in a game, and the coolest to do it in a game like our second game against Walsh,” Rathbun said. “We had so much momentum at the top of the eighth inning when I hit my second home run. With two outs and both Stoner and Jenna coming before me, I knew they both would get the job done and I was ready for my at bat but it all happened so fast there was no time to think at all, just play.”

The second game against Malone University got canceled due to weather, but the Chargers won their first game 18-7, tying the most runs scored in Gross’ four years as coach. 

“I think we just rallied off each other and kept the hits going, so it was really fun to see everybody add to it and just keep it going,” Vis said. “I think we are at a good place right now where we’ve found our groove, and I think we’ll keep that going as the rest of conference goes on.”

The Chargers have 12 scheduled games left. This upcoming weekend of April 15-16 they will play 4 home games, two against Trevecca Nazarene University on Friday and two against Kentucky Wesleyan College on Saturday. 

Trevecca is 22-9 overall with a 6-2 conference record, in fourth behind the Chargers, while Kentucky Wesleyan is 10-28 with a 3-7 G-MAC record. Trevecca is on a five-game win streak, winning nine of their last 11 games. 

“We’re doing well in conference, and I’m very confident in this team,” Gross said. “We had a rough inning against Malone, but I told the team that we’re going to continue to go on runs and ultimately win that game, and we won big against Malone. The team is playing really well right now, which is good going into some of the tougher teams in the conference this weekend.”