Central Michigan University
Marshall
Softball Sweeps Marshall, 5-3 and 6-3
4/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Softball
April 21, 2004
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
MOUNT PLEASANT -- The Chippewa softball team kept a grip on its first-place standing with a doubleheader sweep over visiting Marshall on Wednesday, 5-3 and 6-3.
Central Michigan University pounded out 11 hits in the opener and took advantage of situations in the nightcap to win convincingly in a meeting of the preseason Mid-American Conference division favorites.
CMU improved to 23-13 overall and 12-1 in the MAC while Marshall fell to 27-22 overall and 8-7 in the MAC.
In the opener, the Chippewas scored twice in the second inning and three times in the fourth to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
CMU started the second with back-to-back singles by Christan Dhondt and Christin Sobeck. Brittany Decker then drove them in with a two-run double to left. Decker tried sacrificing the runners over a base but she fouled off a pair of bunts to fall down in the count 0-2 before working it full at 3-2. That's when she roped one off the wall to give CMU an early cushion.
The first two Chippewas got on via walks in the fourth and a single by Karen Hohs loaded the bases for freshman Jacque Benedict. She drove in two runs with a double to center and then Hohs made it a third run when she reached safely on a delayed steal of home before time was called.
Marshall got two runs back in the sixth when CMU ace Amber Puchalski gave up a double followed by a two-run homer by Sarah Wilson.
It got interesting in the seventh when Puchalski then walked the leadoff batter and gave her second base on a wild pitch. Marshall used a sacrifice to get the runner to third and she was plated with a sacrifice fly making it a 5-3 game with two outs.
The senior then struck out pinch hitter Jennifer Susman to end it.
Puchalski improved to 15-6 on the year and she fanned nine while allowing three hits. All three Thundering Herd runs were earned.
Rani Nielson took the loss for Marshall. She went three full innings and allowed seven hits and four runs. Amanda Luers came on in relief and tossed three innings while allowing four hits and one run.
Hohs, Decker and Sobeck each had two hits in the game.
CMU struck early again in the nightcap posting two runs in the first, three in the third and one in the fifth.
Hohs led the game off with a double and Aimee Smith was hit by a pitch to put two runners on for Sobeck. CMU's leading hitter drove them both in with a double to left field.
Marshall cut it to a one-run lead in the top of the third when the Thundering Herd got an unearned run with two-outs. Following a Chippewa fielding error, Marshall tallied back-to-back hits, including an RBI single by Amanda Williams.
The Chippewas responded in the bottom of the inning with three runs thanks to two walks and some Marshall miscues.
CMU scored its first run of the inning on a wild pitch, its second on a crazy baserunning play where a Chippewa scored while another was in a rundown following a fly out to the outfield, and the third on an RBI triple by Benedict.
Marshall posted two more runs in the fifth off starter Jessica Garvin before she was relieved by freshman Jill DeRoche. DeRoche retired seven straight batters after the first Marshall hitter she faced reached on an error.
CMU posted one more run in the fifth when Smith hit a double and then scored on a Marshall fielding error.
Garvin notched the win to improve to 6-5 while DeRoche tallied her second save of the season.
Garvin went four and two-thirds innings allowing six hits and three runs, but only one was earned. She fanned two. DeRoche didn't allow a hit while fanning two.
CMU had just five hits in the nightcap and it committed two errors.
Marshall connected for six hits and committed one error. Sarah Chamberlain started but only went two innings allowing three hits and four runs in the loss. Abigail Harter came on for four innings of relief and gave up just two hits and two runs (one earned). CMU did not strike out in the nightcap.
The Chippewas now head to Eastern Michigan for a three-game series this Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25. Saturday will feature a doubleheader and Sunday a single game with action beginning at 1 p.m., on both days.
NOTES:
* Senior Amber Puchalski now has 163 strikeouts this season giving her four of the top five single season marks in school history. She had a school record 308 in 2002 and 255 in 2001. Linda Pagett ranks third with 236 in 1982, followed by Puchalski's 163 each of the last two seasons.
* Puchalski now has 75 career victories, two shy of tying the CMU and Mid-American Conference record of 77.
*Marshall entered the game as the MAC's top hitting team at .277 but the Chippewas held the Herd to a .176 mark in the twinbill.
* Nearly half of CMU's 16 hits in the games were for extra bases. The Chippewas had six doubles and a triple.
* Christin Sobeck is hitting .500 for CMU in the last four games going 5-for-10. She now holds CMU's top batting average at .327. She was intentionally walked by the Thundering Herd in the nightcap with runners at second and third.
* Puchalski improved to 9-0 in MAC games with a 0.67 ERA.
* Jacque Benedict drove in three runs on the day. Seven of her 11 hits in MAC action are for extra bases (five doubles and two triples).
