ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team opened the 2023 season with a split on the first day of the Lewis Dome Invitational in Rosemont, Illinois on Thursday. The Cardinals (1-1) defeated Upper Iowa (0-1) 17-7 in five innings to begin the day. The second game was a marathon against host Lewis (3-2) that lasted 10 innings and saw SVSU fall 5-4 in the contest.
Sara Moos led the way offensively going 4-for-7 on the afternoon with three RBI. Alexis Gills had three hits and two RBI for the day. Cam Coonan recorded two hits in the second game of the day. Leah Denome and Paige Kolinski each tallied two hits against Upper Iowa. Alyssa Muench (W, 1-0) had eight strikeouts in four innings of pitching in the win over the Peacocks. Emily Depew threw for 9.2 innings against the Flyers and totaled nine strikeouts in the circle.
Game One: Saginaw Valley State def. Upper Iowa, 17-7 (5 Innings)
Kolinski hit an RBI single to right field in the first inning to score Jackie Popko to give Saginaw Valley a quick 1-0 lead. A Cardinal error allowed the tying run in the bottom half of the inning before the Peacocks got a three-run home run to left field that put the score at 4-1 in favor of Upper Iowa.
A five-run second inning flipped the lead back to the Cardinals as Sarah Gersch got things going with a triple to right field that scored both Sydney Herioux and Maddie Campagna. Denome then singled to bring Gersch across the plate. Moos and Muench then scored two more runners for the 6-4 edge. The Peacocks evened things up with two runs in the bottom half.
Two hits and an error allowed the Cardinals to pull away with six more runs, 12-6, in the top of the 3rd-inning. Two more runs in the fourth extended things to 14-6 and three more in the fifth grew the margin to 11 (17-6). Upper Iowa tallied one final run in the bottom of the fifth, but SVSU closed out the inning to seal the victory.
Game Two: Lewis def. Saginaw Valley State, 5-4 (10 Innings)
Moos got the bats warmed up with a single to right field in the 2nd-inning but a line out, and double-play on the following at-bat stopped the scoring opportunity. Herioux reached on a fielder's choice in the third and was brought home on a single from Gersch that put the Cardinals ahead, 1-0.
The lead was increased in the sixth when Kolinski hit a ground-rule double to get into scoring position with just one out. Olivia Sabin entered to pinch run and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Sabin made it home on a throwing error to put things at 2-0. The Flyers tied things up in the bottom half of the 6th-inning with two runs off an error by SVSU.
Kolinski broke the deadlock in extra innings with a groundout in the 8th-inning that scored Moos. Lewis tied things up in the bottom half with a single to center that scored a run to keep the game going.
Campagna was caught stealing, but Moos slipped to home during the pickle to score the go-ahead run in the top half of the 9th-inning for the 4-3 advantage. A single to left scored a run for the Flyers and the game proceeded into the 10th.
The Cardinals moved a runner to third but failed to capitalize after a ground out and a K to end the inning. Lewis ended things on a single to left that scored a run and ended the 2 hour, 38 minute contest.
UP NEXT
The SVSU softball team will continue in the Dome with two games tomorrow (Friday, February 24) against Minnesota-Duluth at 3:30 p.m. and Walsh at 8:00 p.m.