HARROGATE, Tenn. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team split on the opening day of the Abe's Invitational hosted by Lincoln Memorial on Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals defeated Clarion, 10-7 in game one before falling to Bloomsburg 4-1 in the day's final contest.
GAME 1 – SVSU 10 – Clarion 7
Aalana Kimble earned her first win in the circle for SVSU as she pitched for five innings, giving up eight hits and four earned runs with a strikeout in her time. Delaney Conley pitched one inning of relief where she sat down two batters. Alyssa Muench earned the save with the final inning of work. She sat down all three hitters she faced.
The Golden Eagles got on the board first with a run in both the second and third innings. The first came off a single to right field while the second was the result of a double to left center.
Muench trimmed the lead in half with her first home run of the season in the top of the fourth inning.
Maddie Campagna joined the slugfest with a homer in the fifth to tie things up. Mya Purdy doubled later in the inning to bring Ella Reifschneider and Marissa Beck home and swipe a 4-2 advantage. Sarah Moos added an RBI single to left center that scored Purdy before Campagna brought in another on a fielder's choice play that scored Natalie Savage. Sydney Herioux and Reifschneider gathered the final three RBI for SVSU in the fifth inning with a single to center from Herioux bringing in Emma Bolding. Reifschneider singled to right field to score Campagna and the inning ended with an 8-2 SVSU lead.
An RBI single from Clarion closed the deficit to five runs going into the final two innings.
Paige Thomson put the final tally on the board for the Cardinals with an RBI on a fielder's choice play that scored Paige Kolinski.
The Golden Eagles scored three runs in the sixth to close the gap to 10-6 before a home run to lead off the final inning put the score where it would stay.
Muench and Herioux led SVSU with two hits in game one. Purdy, Campagna, and Herioux had a team-high two RBI.
GAME 2 – SVSU 1 – Bloomsburg 4
Muench got the start in the circle for the Cardinals against the Huskies. She pitched five innings and struck out seven to give up just three earned runs. Conley closed things out in the final inning in the losing effort.
All four runs for Bloomsburg happened in the fifth inning. The first two came off bases-loaded walks before a two-run double scored the final two to put the score at 4-0 in favor of the Huskies.
The lone run for SVSU was scored by Kimble when she singled to left field and an error moved her to the plate and put the score where it would stay at 4-1.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals get another shot at Bloomsberg first thing tomorrow morning with a matchup at 10:00 a.m., EST. The final game of the Abe's Invitational is also with a familiar foe in host Lincoln Memorial at 2:00 p.m., EST.