UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team swept Wisconsin Parkside early Sunday afternoon on the Cardinals' senior day. SVSU finished game one quickly with an 11-0 score after five innings before a 7-3 decision was cut short by rain after the fifth inning.
Jackie Popko led the way going 4-6 from the plate with two home runs. Her two runs were enough to tie the SVSU career runs scored mark of 159. Popko also added a team-high seven RBI to her stat line. Alexis Gills and Sydney Herioux added three hits with Gills managing a double, two runs, and two RBI. Herioux tallied two runs and two RBI as well. Paige Kolinski, Sara Moos, and Sarah Gersch registered two hits. Moos finished the day with three RBI.
Game 1: Saginaw Valley State def. Parkside, 11-0 (5 innings)
An error allowed Cam Coonan to score in the bottom of the second to start the scoring for the Cardinals. Popko then smashed a grand slam to left field to add four runs and give SVSU the 5-0 after two.
Marissa Beck scored on a bases-loaded, fielder's choice play in the third that pushed the lead to six. Leah Denome then lined out to center field for the sacrifice fly to score Gills for the 7-0 lead. Popko then followed suit two plays later with a sac fly to left field that brought Coonan across the plate.
Kolinski hit a solo home run to right field to extend the advantage to 9-0 in the fourth inning. Denome hit a double to left center that scored Emily Beckas before Herioux singled to right center to score Denome and the Cardinals pulled away 11-0 and earned the win in a quick game one.
Emily Depew (W, 10-4) got the start and earned the win pitching the complete game to open the doubleheader. Depew allowed just three hits and struck out four batters in her second shutout appearance.
Game 2: Saginaw Valley State def. Parkside, 7-3 (5 innings)
The Rangers got things going early with a single up the middle that scored two runs.
Moos got the Cardinals on the board with a home run to left center in the bottom half of the second that cut the lead to 2-1.
Parkside moved ahead by two runs with an RBI double in the top of the fourth. Gills then doubled to left field in the bottom half of the fourth to score Gersch and Beckas to knot things up at three-all. Gills would score on a fielder's choice play two batters later to take the lead, 4-3.
Popko added two more to the board with her record-tying two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth that extended the lead to 6-3 and brought her career run total to 159. Another run lit the scoreboard on a sacrifice fly from Coonan that scored Gersch to bring the tally to its final resting place, 7-3.
The game was called in the top of the 6th inning due to heavy rainfall.
Alyssa Muench (W, 8-2) got the start in the circle in game two and struck out four batters in five innings of work to secure her eighth win of the season.
UP NEXT
The SVSU softball team takes a road trip to Grand Rapids to face GLIAC leader Grand Valley State on Wednesday, April 19. Game one of the doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 3:00 p.m.
