ROSEMONT, Ill. – The Saginaw Valley State University softball team improved to 7-1 in GLIAC with a sweep against Roosevelt on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals (20-8, 7-1 GLIAC) took game one in six innings in an 8-0 shutout before needing extra innings in game two to pull off a 5-3 victory and complete the sweep.
With the wins, SVSU has reached the 20-win mark for the fifth-straight season and has now won nine of the last 10 games.
GAME 1: SVSU 8 – Roosevelt 0 (6 Innings)
Jenna Morse led offensively in game one as she hit a double and two singles, all adding an RBI to her stat line in four plate appearances. She also scored a run two of the three times she was on base for the Cardinals. Mya Purdy tallied two RBI with her one hit, while Kenzie Bromley recorded an RBI on her lone hit in the game. Ella Reifschneider scored twice and hit the game's only triple. Ella Schneider finished 2-for-2 with a run scored. Aalana Kimble (W, 7-3) got the win in the circle after pitching a complete six-inning shutout with two strikeouts.
Reifschneider reached third on a triple in the second at bat, and Morse brought her home with her double to left center to earn a 1-0 lead for SVSU in the first inning.
Singles by Lillia Sherman and Schneider put runners on base in the second inning before Schneider stole home with two outs to double up the lead at 2-0. The Lakers threatened with two runners in scoring position, but Kimble worked a strikeout to get out of the jam and keep the two-run lead going into the third.
The Cardinal offense ignited in the third with four runs on four hits in the top half of the frame. Reifschneider got on base and stole second before Morse singled to right center to bring Reifschneider home and push the advantage to three runs. Bromley then doubles to score Morse, forcing a pitching change for Roosvelt. Purdy then hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Bromley. Kate Pnacek did the same with a foul out to right field that scored Sherman and pushed the lead to 6-0 after three innings played.
Morse recorded her third RBI base hit in the sixth that scored Kimble to widen the gap to 7-0 before Purdy added an RBI single to center field that scored Morse and had the score at 8-0 and allowed SVSU to end the game one inning early with three groundouts in the home-half of the sixth.
GAME 2: SVSU 5 – Roosevelt 3
Bromley and Kimble led the Cardinal bats in game two with two hits each. Bromley recorded a double and tallied an RBI and a run, while Kimble gathered an RBI of her own. Natalie Savage had a team-high two RBI while also recording a run. Delaney Conley received the start in the circle and went 4.0 innings with two strikeouts before being relieved by Macy Irelan, who pitched the final three innings of regulation, sitting three batters down on strikes. Olivia Elliott (W, 2-0) pitched the eighth inning and earned the win.
An RBI single to right field gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Roosevelt held onto the slim lead until the top of the fifth when Schneider singled to left field and Savage scored the run on a triple to left center field. Kimble then singled to score Savage, and the Cardinals flipped the advantage 2-1 after the fifth.
Savage earned her second RBI in the sixth when she hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Emily Schmeltz and extended the lead to 3-1.
The Lakers battled back in the final three outs of the game to tally two runs on a single to right center and an SVSU error to move the game to the eighth.
Bromley doubled and advanced to third on an error by Roosevelt, and Emma Helvie scored to move ahead 4-3. Schneider then reached on a fielder's choice that scored Bromley to give the game its final score of 5-3.
UP NEXT: The Cardinals return home to play Ferris State in a home doubleheader on Wednesday, April 2, beginning at 3:00 p.m.