The Hillsdale softball team played four games this weekend, beating the Concordia University Ann Arbor Cardinals and the Division I Valparaiso University Crusaders.
On Saturday, the team played a doubleheader against the Crusaders at Valparaiso University, winning the first game 3-2 and losing the second 3-0.
On Sunday the team traveled to Concordia University Ann Arbor where they played the Concordia Cardinals and the Lansing Community College Stars. In the first game the team beat Concordia 10-9. In the second game the team lost 9-8 to the Lansing Community College Stars.
The team was scheduled to travel to the University of Northwestern Ohio on Saturday instead of Valparaiso University, but that doubleheader was canceled.
“On Saturday, we played well in both games,” head coach Kyle Gross said. “Our defense was really on top of things which helped us win the first game. We did a good job holding our own against a Division I team.”
Sophomore outfielder Olivia Latimer said Sunday was exciting because both of the games were high scoring.
“We had a lot of innings when we were on offense where we scored multiple runs,” Latimer said. “It was really great to see the team being able to manufacture multiple runs in an inning because that just makes it so much easier for our pitchers. When we are more relaxed we’re able to score runs offensively and that’s the name of the game.”
Latimer was third on the team for doubles last spring, with 16 runs batted in.
Sophomore pitcher Joni Russell pitched the entire first game against the Crusaders.
“She only gave up four or five hits,” Gross said. “However, we made a critical error at the end of the first game that gave Valparaiso two runs so they had the tagging run on second base but two outs and Joni struck out the final batter.”
Gross said despite the error, the defense has improved since the last games.
“Our defense was really solid,” Gross said. “We had to play really good defense or else Valparaiso was going to score a lot of runs with play after play. Our defense was there for it.”
According to Gross, the team’s pitching was not strong on Sunday but the offense came alive.
“It’s typical for pitching to not be as strong in the fall,” Gross said. “We’ll be working on getting consistent with our pitching for the spring.”
Russel said that pitching for an entire game can be a challenge.
“Honestly, I was really shocked that I pitched the entire game because I haven’t pitched a full game since May,” Russel said. “During practice, we only pitch one or two innings so getting thrown for seven innings at once was hard but I did it. Overall, I’m hitting spots really well.”
Last spring, Russel had the second most strikeouts in the G-MAC, posting 160.
Gross said this weekend was the first time the team has traveled this year, giving the freshmen a chance to see what it’s like to be on the road with the team.
“Overall I feel like we’re starting out at a much better position than we started out last year in the fall,” Latimer said. “It’s really exciting to see how we’ve already built up to a higher point this fall than we were last fall. That speaks really well for our potential in the spring.”
The team will play their last fall game at 5 p.m. on Oct. 21 against the Michigan State University Spartans in East Lansing.