UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team continued play of the postponed game from Saturday (Apr. 3) against Hillsdale. The Cardinals beat the Chargers 9-2 in seven innings in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) contest.
On Saturday Saginaw Valley fell behind after Hillsdale scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of a homerun. The Cardinals battled back and scored two runs in the top of the third to knot the score at two. Senior Billi Hoeppner (Hemlock, Mich.) started things when she walked and Ashley Jordan (Freeland, Mich.) singled through the infield to move her to second. Junior Jill Peterson (Freeland, Mich.) reached first on a fielder’s choice scoring Hoeppner. Senior Angela Kaiser (Waterford, Mich. / Our Lady of the Lakes HS) stepped in for Saginaw Valley and sacrifice bunted to score Jordan. The game remained scoreless until it was postponed due to rain in the bottom of the fifth inning with runner on first and second, no outs for Hillsdale.
The game resumed today (Apr. 5) and the Cardinals came out strong shutting down the first three batters that stepped up to the plate. The game remained scoreless until the top of the seventh inning when Saginaw Valley busted open scoring seven runs on seven hits. Senior Nikki Bigelow led off the inning with a double to right field. Hillsdale had an error in the infield that would cause pinch runner Ashley Coffin (Sterling Heights, Mich. / Stephenson HS) to score for the Cardinals. Sophomore Lauren Memmer (White Lake, Mich. / Lakeland HS) reached first on an error and would come around to score on a hit from Hoeppner. Jordan singled to right center and Kaiser doubled to left field scoring both Hoeppner and Jordan. Junior Jessica McKeith (River Rouge, Mich.) picked up where she left off on Saturday singling to the shortstop to advance Kaiser to third. Pinch hitter Monica Gathright (Baroda, Mich. / KVCC) dug in for Saginaw Valley bringing around Kaiser and McKeith. The Cardinals hit through the line up bringing Bigelow up to the plate for the second time in the inning where she singled to the right side scoring Gathright.
Senior Kari Bowlby (Elkhart, Ind.) got the start in the circle for the Cardinals pitching four innings with six strike outs and no walks. Junior Jade Fulton (Byron, Mich.) came in during the fifth inning to pick up the win with four strikeouts and giving up only one hit. Fulton is 10-1 on the season and 4-0 in the GLIAC.
With the win Saginaw Valley improves to 19-2 overall on the season, and 6-0 in the GLIAC, while Hillsdale falls to 6-14 overall on the season and 1-5 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals will return to action on Saturday (Apr. 10) when they take on Tiffin University for a GLIAC contest. The double-header is scheduled to start at 1:00 pm.