Sophomore Nathalie Hagle
Courtesy | Hillsdale Athletic Department

The Hillsdale College softball team lost all four of its games in Ohio, two against Tiffin University April 3 and two against the University of Findlay April 6, dropping its conference record to 8-4.

Despite losing the second game against Findlay 14-10, the Chargers scored six runs in the third inning thanks to senior Taylor Lewis, sophomores  Nathalie Hagle and Olivia Liguori, and junior Sydney Davis hitting consistent shots that brought home runs. Additionally, Lewis homered to left field in the fourth inning.

Head coach Kyle Gross said Findlay has had some of the top pitching in the conference, and has the best record overall for the season, largely due to its star player.

“Findlay’s strongest player is senior Annika Bredel,” Gross said. “She is on the top national player watchlist, and has had an overall good season.”

The Chargers lost the first game against Findlay 15-10, with Lewis and junior catcher Medleigh Danchak hitting home runs. Sophomore Ronnie Craft said the loss was due to the team’s weak defense.
“We worked hard at the plate battling back and answering to the runs they scored on us, but defense was a bit shaky all day and pitchers struggled as well,” Craft said.

The Chargers lost their first game against Tiffin 11-6, which Gross attributed to Tiffin being one of the strongest offensive teams in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

“Against Tiffin, we left pitches over the plate and they took advantage,” Gross said. “We had good hits but they had the big flies — the home runs. They hit six home runs in one day, four in a game. The difference between us and Tiffin was that they had more of an offensive threat that was able to overwhelm us.” 

The second game against Tiffin resulted in an 8-0 loss. Craft said the loss was due to the offense losing momentum.
“Our offense struggled against their pitcher, and we swung out of the zone a lot which ultimately led to us struggling to find gaps in the field and get those hits we needed,” Craft said.

Sophomore Grace Harris said all four losses were due to weak pitching, threatening the core of the team’s defense.

“The strategy going into these games is obviously to limit the run damage,” Harris said. “Unfortunately, we had to make many pitching changes to try to stop Tiffin and Findlay and none of them truly worked. Right now, we as a team are struggling to find a way to limit the runs. Our goal as a bullpen is to figure out what it is that isn’t working and fix it.”

The Chargers will return to Ohio to  play Malone University and Ohio Dominican University April 11 and 12.