FINDLAY, Ohio – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team continued its hot play of late, with two victories over the University of Findlay today (Apr. 4), 7-0 and 7-2. The Cardinals have now won 17 of their last 18 games on the season and eight-of-nine in the GLIAC.

GAME ONE
The Cardinals’ would not waste any time getting ahead of the Oilers in game one as Marsha Beaubien (Alpena, Mich.) blasted her fourth homerun of the season to give the Cardinals and starting pitcher Jade Fulton (Byron, Mich.) an early 1-0 advantage. That one run would be all Fulton would need in the game, as she fired a complete game two-hit shutout; striking out a season high 17 batters on her way to her tenth win of the season.

Saginaw Valley would get the offense going in the top of the fifth after Angela Kaiser (Waterford, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes HS) ripped a one out single to right field. She would advance to second on a passed ball and would score on Beaubien’s second homerun of the game and fifth of the season to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead after five innings.

SVSU would add three more runs in the sixth inning as the Cardinals capitalized on four Findlay errors to build a 6-0 lead over the Oilers. The Cardinals would add one more run in the top of the seventh, when Nicole Fick (Columbiaville, Mich./Lapeer West HS) would come around to score on a Jessica Anhel (Oxford, Mich.) double to right center. Fick reached base earlier in the inning on a one out single to left field. The Cardinals would take game one by a score of 7-0.

GAME TWO
The Cardinals would hand the ball to Kari Bowlby (Elkhart, Ind./Central HS) in game two, who would pick up her fifth win of the season. Bowlby went four innings allowing two runs on six hits before giving way to Fulton who threw the final three innings on her way to her fourth save of the season.

Findlay would string together three hits in the top of first to go ahead of the Cardinals 1-0, but the Cardinals would rally back to take the lead 2-1 in the bottom of the second. Fick would reach on a single to the pitcher and score on an Anhel double to left field. Anhel would later score on a Shannon McLaughlin (Watervliet, Mich./Kalamazoo Valley C.C.) ground out.

Findlay would respond with a run in the top of the third to knot the game at 2-2, where the game would stay until bottom of the fourth when Anhel scored on a wild pitch to give the Cardinals 3-2 advantage.

SVSU would add two runs in the bottom of the fifth, the first would come off the bat of Beaubien who would blast her third homerun of the day and sixth of the season to extend the Saginaw Valley lead to 4-2. Stacy Kraatz would then walk and later score on an Anhel fielders choice to make the score 5-2.

The Cardinals would add two more runs in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back homeruns to lead off the inning. The first would come off the bat of McLaughlin and the second would come off the bat of freshman catcher Jessica Chatterton (Midland, Mich./Bullock Creek HS). Chatterton’s homerun also be her first collegiate hit. The Cardinals would close the game out in the top of the seventh and end the game with a 7-2 win.

With the wins the Cardinals move to 22-6 overall on the season and 8-1 in the GLIAC, while Findlay falls to 14-10 overall on the season and 1-8 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals will return to action on Sunday when the travel to Hillsdale for a double header scheduled to start at 10:00 am.