HAMMOND, Ind. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team split the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader at Purdue Northwest on Sunday afternoon. The Cardinals (19-7, 3-1 GLIAC) took game one 6-3 before a highly contested game two went to the Pride in a walk-off seventh inning.
Katelyn Pnacek (4-6) had a fantastic afternoon for SVSU as she hit .667 and scored a run. Sarah Gersch (5-9) led with five hits and was responsible for five of the eight runs scored by the Cardinals (4 RBI, 1 Run). Paige Thomson (2-4), Jackie Popko (2-6), and Alexis Gills (2-8) had two hits on the day.
Game 1: Saginaw Valley State def. Purdue Northwest, 6-3
A leadoff single by Popko put a runner on base early for Saginaw Valley State. Sara Moos brought her home with a single through the left side for the 1-0 lead. Pnacek singled up the middle a few plays later that scored Paige Kolinski. The inning ended with a run from Gills as SVSU held a 3-0 lead after the first inning.
Leah Denome scored a run in the second inning to extend the lead to four runs before Gersch doubled to left field to score Denome and Maddie Campagna as the Cardinals led 6-0.
A two-run homerun and an RBI single in the bottom half of the 4th-inning cut the SVSU lead in half, but the Pride was held off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game to secure the win in game one.
Emily Depew (W, 6-3) earned her sixth win of the season after her eighth complete game inside the circle. Depew allowed seven hits and three runs while striking out eight members of the Pride.
Game 2: Purdue Northwest def. Saginaw Valley State, 6-5
Game two was a much closer affair than the previous contest with PNW taking a 1-0 lead after the opening inning.
Gersch singled to left field and scored Alyssa Muench to tie the score at one all. An RBI single in the bottom half of the inning flipped the advantage back to Purdue Northwest.
Muench knotted things up with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third that scored Pnacek for a 2-2 score. A triple by Gersch scored Popko in the top of the fourth to give the Cardinals their first lead of game two. Moos then scored Gersch on a sacrifice bunt and the score moved to 4-2 in favor of SVSU.
A three-run bottom half of the 4th-inning gave the lead back to the host team, 5-4. The score remained there until the final inning of regulation. Popko hit a two-out, infield single that brought Emily Beckas home and tied the game at five. The Pride forced a pop-out for the final out to keep the game tied.
A single followed by a defensive error put two baserunners on for the Pride before a walk-off ground out pushes a runner across the plate and ends game two with a 6-5 result.
Jaclyn Groves pitched 5.1 innings for the Cardinals in game two. She struck out six batters in the losing effort.
UP NEXT
The SVSU softball squad will be back in action tomorrow (Monday, April 3) with a doubleheader at Parkside. Those games were rescheduled from Saturday, April 1 due to weather. Game one will start at 1:00 p.m.