UNIVERSITY CENTER, Mich - The Saginaw Valley State University softball team faced the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) conference leading Ohio Dominican Panthers on Saturday (Apr. 5). The Cardinals dropped the first game by a score of 12-2 before falling 6-1 in the second game.
Game One
Ohio Dominican led off the game with two runs in the top of the first inning to take a 2-0 advantage.
Amanda Best got the Cardinals going with a single through the right side. Marcy Medina followed with a single of her own, advancing Best. A Deanna Stickler-Gatson double to right field would score Medina. Chelsea Adcock added another SV single to score Stickler-Gatson. After two complete innings, the game was tied 2-2.
The Panthers took the lead back in the top of the third with a single run to make it 3-2.
The score remained the same until the top of the seventh. It was then when ODU exploded for nine runs in the final inning, taking the first game by the final score of 12-2.
SVSU was led offensively by Kari Knight and Medina, who each tallied two hits in three at-bats.
Sarah Vrabel suffered the loss, giving up seven earned runs on 12 hits in 6 2/3 innings of work.
Game Two
The Panthers were the first team to score once again in game two. Allie Hinton singled up the middle scoring Caitlin Jividen who reached on an SV error. ODU would add another run in the second before adding two more runs in the bottom of the third. The 4-0 lead would hold until the top of the fourth inning.
Saginaw Valley got on the board with a monster home run to left field by junior catcher Amanda Best, her fifth homer of the season.
Dominican added runs in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, to close out the 6-1 win.
Best and Knight both registered two hits for the Cards in the game.
Alexa Gehrls took the loss in the nightcap. The senior gave up four earned runs on 10 hits in her six innings of work.
SVSU falls to 14-5 overall and 6-2 in the GLIAC while ODU improves to 12-0 on the season and 8-0 in the conference.
The Cardinals are back in action tomorrow (Apr. 6) afternoon as they travel to Tiffin University to take on the Dragons in a doubleheader. The first game will begin at noon.