Courtesy | Summer Fields
Softball played two games against Indiana Purdue Fort Wayne on Saturday Oct. 2 at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., winning the first 7-2 and losing the second 5-2.
“Going into our games against Purdue, I was very excited to see how the team would do against Division 1 competition, and the team did not disappoint,” 5th year senior catcher Madison Stoner said. “I was very proud of everyone for how they played. There were so many people who stepped up, gave it their all, and made big contributions to the team. It was very exciting to beat them.”
Due to the rain forecasted for Sunday, the team’s originally scheduled game against Madonna was canceled, and Head Coach Kyle Gross scheduled a different game against Purdue. In regards to these last minute changes, Coach said it does not come as a surprise.
“I mean throughout my career, even in high school, you had those things and you just kind of jump through the hoop and work around it,” Gross said.
In the first game, fifth year senior utility player Madison Rathbun hit two homeruns, one first at bat and one later on in the game. In the second game, Stoner hit a run with two outs and runners on base.
“Well the first game, we came out, we were hitting the ball hard, and I don’t think they were necessarily ready for us to be as good as we are,” Rathbun said. “I think that they took it a little personal which is good because good competition is definitely preferred. They competed more in the second game, forcing us into some situations where we now have some things that we can visibly see we need to work on.”
The team will be using this next week to rest up in preparation for their weekend games. Rathbun says they will continue to have the consistent mindset to hit hard and be aggressive, regardless of who they’re playing against.
“We’ll actually have probably two sessions of yoga this week because this is our first weekend playing four games,” Gross said. “We also have recruits on campus this week, and we’re gonna have them out at practice, so we’ll have some live situations. This is the most our pitching staff is going to be pitching in one week, but it also comes at the very end of our fall games.”
The team’s next game is this Saturday Oct. 9 at the Canton Sports Complex in Canton, Michigan against Detroit Mercy and Michigan Dearborn 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. They will follow up this Sunday Oct. 10 at Johnny Williams Field against Jackson College at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
“We’re happy to be home this weekend,” Gross said, “We were actually supposed to be at home last weekend, but because of weather we ended up on the road again. We’re really looking forward to being home. And the fact that it’s Parents Weekend is kind of a bonus.”
