Senior Anna Chellman strikes ball.
Courtesy | James Gensterblum
The Charger softball team won two out of four games in St. Louis, at the Maryville Invitational March 7-8, moving their season record to 7-7.
At the invitational, the Chargers beat Purdue University Northwest, lost to Parkside College, and split two games with Maryville University.
The third game against Purdue Northwest was a narrow victory of 7-6, with junior shortstop Sydney Davis describing it as her favorite moment of the tournament.
“Senior infielder Anna Chellman truly showed up for our team in that game and had a perfect hit to center to help pull off the win,” Davis said “It was great to celebrate the success of the team after a hard-fought win.”
Freshman pitcher Katie Jonas said she has a close friendship with Chellman and credits high team morale to Chellman’s victory.
“In the game Anna, ‘Chelly,’ had some flukes earlier in the game and we were talking about it,” Jonas said. “I just kept telling her ‘It’s okay — we have your back.’ And then here we are at the end of the game, two outs, bases loaded and down one run, and Chelly hits the walk-off. Talk about a bounce back. I am so proud and happy for her — I ran and gave her a hug immediately.”
Davis also said freshmen home runs contributed to the team’s success during the game with Purdue and Maryville.
“Another highlight in the Purdue University Northwestern game was freshman outfielder Cayla Contreras hitting her first collegiate home runs,” Davis said.
The last Maryville game was a 9-6 defeat for Hillsdale.
“We were not even getting a hit into the fifth inning,” head coach Kyle Gross said. “Then freshman Emily Meisner hit the home run, our first hit of that game. And then we ended up scoring six runs that game.”
The Charger’s first game was against Parkside, and they lost 10-7.
“The lowest point of the whole invitation was obviously when we let Wisconsin Parkside come back on us,” Gross said. “We gave up a five run lead, and it never feels good.”
For the first game against Maryville, the Chargers won 5-1. Jonas describes the team as being perfectly in sync between offense and defense.
“I would have to give all credit to the defense in that game,” Jonas said “Senior outfielder Maggie Olaveson did a double play in left field, senior outfielder Emma Sather had a catch in center, and sophomore utility player Olivia Liguori was a wall behind the plate. With this strong lineup, our offense kept putting runs on the board.”
Gross said he is proud of the team for how they maintained the college’s ideal of strength rejoicing in the challenge.
“You know, this team continues to fight and learn and get better, though we’re facing tough competition,” Gross said. “It’s not like we are just scraping by. This team did a really good job this weekend of overcoming adversity, to get the wins that we did have, and to play the way we did, even though it wasn’t a win in the final game again. We continue to get stronger, because there’s just always going to be some type of challenge.”
The Chargers will travel to Bartow, Florida, to face off against Saint Martin’s University and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania for the Spring Games March 14. The team will then go to Tampa, Florida, to compete with Lewis University, Post University, University of Tampa, Florida Southern College, and Embry-Riddle University (Florida) for the Space Coast Games March 15-20.
