Eagles Split With Panthers To End Lengthy Road Week

Eagles Split With Panthers To End Lengthy Road Week

LINK – ASHLAND UNIVERSITY SOFTBALL PAGE

Five outs away from winning both games on Sunday (April 22) at Davenport, Ashland University's softball team ended the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader with a split – a 4-3 win in Game 1 and a 5-4 loss in Game 2.

The Eagles enter the final week of the 2018 regular season at 18-18 overall and 8-10 in the GLIAC, while the Panthers are 28-17, 13-11.

In the opener, Ashland pulled away from Davenport after falling behind 1-0 in the first inning. The top of the second saw junior right fielder Halle Dorko collect an RBI double to tie the game at 1. Then, in the top of the third, sophomore second baseman Camille Pollutro had an RBI single, and a Panther error brought in two more runs for a 4-1 advantage.

Junior third baseman Paige Summers, Dorko and junior left fielder Katie Mitchell each had two of AU's eight hits. For a second consecutive day, freshman pitcher Laney Jones (4-3) won in a starting role, going 4 2/3 innings, allowing three hits, three runs (two earned) and five walks, and striking out three. Senior pitcher Paige McMenemy earned her first save of the season with 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

The second game once again saw the Panthers go up 1-0 in the bottom of the first, and Ashland rally thereafter. Pollutro's RBI single knotted the game at 1 in the second, and, in the fourth, another three-run inning put the Eagles up 4-1. Pollutro, junior first baseman Kylie Asmus and Summers each recorded RBI doubles to give AU the lead.

Davenport, however, used a run-scoring double, followed by a two-run two-bagger, to tie the game at 4 in the sixth. The Panthers won the game in the bottom of the seventh on an RBI single by Selene Pauley.

Of the Eagles' 11 hits, three came from Pollutro, and two each were earned by junior center fielder Erika Farst and Summers. Junior pitcher Hannah Stroe (6-8) allowed five hits, five runs (four earned) and three walks, and struck out two, in 6 1/3 innings.

Sunday's twinbill ended a week in which Ashland played 10 games away from home in a six-day period.

UP NEXT: Tuesday (April 24) at 3:30 p.m. at Northwood (18-17, 6-12).

 

 

AU

SB/DS