If you score 12 runs in a game, and your pitcher only gives up one hit, chances are in the game of softball you are only playing five innings. In a weekend that saw the Eagles play six games in just over 48 hours, a shortened game was the perfect recipe to start the weekend. 

Hillsdale Game 1

Junior pitcher Emlyn Knerem looked back to form Friday (Mar. 25) throwing a one-hit shutout to silence the Hillsdale Chargers in game one of the doubleheader. 

The offensive surge was led by sophomore Tawna Garver who finished 3-for-3 with two runs, and a pair of RBI. First baseman Logan Hursey had two hits in three at-bats with a double and two RBI. Junior right fielder Alex Machen added a pair of RBI and a double of her own. 

Shortstop Bri Woody left the yard with a two-run homerun to cap off a nine-run third inning for the Eagles to extend the lead to 11-0. The junior finished 2-for-3 with a pair of runs. Freshman Cayla Seidler also knocked in two runs, and scored twice. 

Twelve runs is a season high for the Eagles, and is the most runs AU has scored since they outscored Lake Erie by the same count April 29 of last season. 

Game 2

For the second time in three games the Eagles had the game decided during the international tiebreaker. However, this time the Eagles (10-8, 2-0 GLIAC) came out on the right side of the scoreboard holding on for a 5-2 win in 10 innings. 

Kelley opened the scoring for AU in the top of the third, singling home Lyndsey Brandt. 

The Chargers (3-12, 0-2 GLIAC) quickly responded scoring twice in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a two-run blast over the left center field wall off the bat of centerfielder Taylor Schulty. 

After the run-rule in game one, the Eagles had a hard time getting runners in, stranding 15 in the contest, and hitting just 4-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

“It was hard seeing us not take advantage of an opportunity,” head coach Sheilah Gulas said. “I never felt that we got to the point that we were really pressing to then get us outside of our game.”

With their backs against the wall, the Eagles were able to knot the score up at two. Brandt got the offense started in the inning with a one out groundball up the middle. For any other player, the hit would have probably only been good enough for a single, but Brandt used her speed to take the extra base and put herself in scoring position. Kelley knocked in her second run of the game with another single to score the speedy Brandt. 

After her one-hit shutout in game one, Knerem (9-2) was called upon to throw another four innings in game two. However, per GLIAC rules, Hillsdale was the home side on the scoreboard, which in extra innings can always be dangerous. Charger’s outfielder Jennifer Berlet started off the bottom of the ninth with a triple, and put the Eagles against the wall yet again. After intentionally walking third baseman Jessica Guertin, Knerem fanned the next two hitters, and brought the 71 people that survived the cold weather to their feet. Knerem finished off the inning, forcing Hoop, who had the only hit off Knerem in game one, to hit into a weak ground ball to the first baseman.

International tiebreak rules in the GLIAC came into play in the tenth (starts in the eighth in non-conference play), and the Eagles jumped on the opportunity. After an Alex Machen sacrifice bunt moved the free-runner to third, Franki Gironda put the Eagles ahead 3-2 on a sharp single through the right side. Later in the inning, Kelley came up with her third and fourth RBI of the game on a double into the left center field gap. 

Brandt finished the game with a career high four hits in the contest, and Kelley finished 5-for-6 with a double.   

Grand Valley State: Game 1

Five runs in the fifth inning brought Grand Valley back from a three run deficit to take game one from the Eagles Saturday afternoon. 

AU strung four hits together in the bottom of the first to put the Eagles up 2-0. Brandt would go on to double in the home half of the second to knock in Machen and put the Eagles ahead by three. 

The Lakers’ five-run fifth inning runs came on five hits, and Brookside Park was quickly stunned by a GVSU offense that entered the doubleheader averaging 7.9 runs per game. 

After GVSU scored two more in the fifth, the Eagles sniffed at a comeback, drawing within one in the bottom half of the frame. However, a Lakers’ insurance run, and excellent bullpen work from Hannah Santora, left the Eagles on the wrong end of the scoreboard in game one. 

After throwing nine innings the night before, Knerem (9-3) uncharacteristically left some pitches up after just a 16 hour and 15 minute turnaround. The junior gave up all eight runs on ten hits and a pair of walks.

Brandt, Kelley, and Seidler each had two hits, and Woody went 3-for-4 in game one. 

Game 2

Every softball or baseball player when they are young dreams of coming to the plate in a close game with a full count and the winning run on base in the late innings. Woody lived that dream hitting a rocket into the centerfield grass to score two runs, and put the Eagles past the Lakers 6-5 in game two of the twin-bill. 

After all the offense in game one, the pitchers were the focus for the first three and a half innings, silencing the bats on both sides. GVSU pitcher Katie Martin helped her own cause by hitting her first of two homeruns to put the Lakers (17-4, 3-1 GLIAC) up 1-0. Martin and third baseman Miranda Cleary both left the yard in the bottom of the fifth to put the Lakers up 5-0. 

The Eagles (11-9, 3-1 GLIAC), eager to earn a split, wouldn’t go away. Brandt’s speed reeked havoc on yet another opponent, forcing Cleary to rush her throw, and Brandt’s single and an error put her in scoring position to lead off the sixth. After a Kelley single got her to third, Brandt scored on a Seidler sacrifice fly. 

Still trailing 5-1, the Eagles got a huge boost from freshman right hander Carly Clark, who bailed Hursey out of a bases loaded jam to hold the score heading into the top of the seventh. 

Gironda found the outfield grass with a one-out single to keep the door cracked for an Eagles comeback. Miller found a hole through the left side of the infield to put two runners on, and put the all important tying run on the on-deck circle. Brandt worked a walk out of relief pitcher Hannah Santora (6-2), to load the bases for the red-hot Kelley. She didn’t disappoint, coming up with her 11th hit in 18 at-bats which scored two runs to bring the Eagles within two.

Hursey pulled a double down the right field line to draw AU to within one. That set the stage for Woody, who worked a 1-2 count to a 3-2 count before coming up with the line drive to put the Eagles on top.

Clark (1-0) would go on to throw the seventh, and earn the first win of her collegiate career after her inning and two-thirds of relief work. The loss for the Lakers snapped a 12-game winning streak for the Michigan side. 

Ferris State: Game 1

After being shutout in the bottom of the first inning, the Eagles would go on to score multiple runs in each of the next four innings in a 10-0 rout over Ferris State Sunday. 

Machen ended the contest by run rule in walk-off fashion pulling a three run blast over the left field fence. 

Kelley and Brandt continued their one-two punch in the second and third spot in the order both finishing with multi-hit games and combining for five of the Eagles 10 RBI. Since moving up to the two spot in the order last week, Brandt has gone 12-22 (.545) scoring eight runs on two doubles and a triple, while knocking in four runs.  

Knerem (10-3) rebounded off her Saturday loss, throwing a six hit shutout. She is the first pitcher in the GLIAC to reach double digits in wins.

Game 2

One is often considered the loneliest number, and no one knows that more in Ashland Softball history than ’99 graduate Sunny Litteral who sits atop the career homeruns list at 44. Hursey climbed one step closer with her homerun in game two, moving into sole possession of second place, as the 22nd homerun of her career not only cleared the breakaway fence, but also bounced off the top of the much taller green slow pitch fence. 

The homerun opened the scoring in the top of the first, and the Eagles would never lose the lead in their 7-1 win to round out the six game weekend. 

Hursey would fall just a triple shy of the cycle going a perfect 3-for-3 with three RBI. 

Kelley finished with her 10th multi-hit game of the season going 2-for-3. 

For the second consecutive day, Clark (2-0) gave an outstanding relief appearance throwing four shutout innings, giving up three hits and a walk. 

The Eagles (13-9, 5-1 GLIAC) will host a pair of noon doubleheaders against the Findlay Oilers Saturday (Apr.il 2) and Sunday (April 3).