Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
Northern Illinois
Chippewas Hold Off NIU In Series Opener
4/21/2017 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Lindsay Gerber, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A win is a win, no matter how rough getting there may be.
The Central Michigan softball team defeated Northern Illinois 2-1 in the opener of their three-game Mid-American Conference series at Margo Jonker stadium on Friday.
CMU improved to 29-12, 12-4 MAC, and remains in a virtual tie for first place in the MAC with Ball State, which swept Toledo in a league doubleheader on Friday to improve to 13-4 in league play. NIU is 21-7, 9-7.
The series concludes with a doubleheader (1 p.m.) on Saturday. Central Michigan will honor its 1987 team, which finished fifth in the Women's College World Series, between games of the twinbill.
Winning pitcher Rachael Knapp (17-7) went the distance, allowing three hits and striking out five. The senior has a 1.36 ERA and leads the MAC in wins.
"(Knapp)'s strength today was managing the strike zone," CMU coach Margo Jonker. "She really maintained and managed it well considering all of the external things going on. She did a good job with that and it really was her main strength today - being able to stay poised."
The Chippewas took an immediate lead in the first inning with an RBI single by Kayla Noch, and added an all-important insurance run in the fifth when Lacy Tolfree bunted for a single, moved to second on a fielder's choice, stole third, and scored with two outs on an error.
Northern Illinois got its lone run in the seventh inning. Jenny Van Geertry led off with a double, moved to third on a fly out, and scored on a sacrifice fly. Knapp got a fly out to end the game.
"Glad we got the W," Jonker said. "It was an ugly game … it wasn't real sharp. Both teams had errors, but today we had one more run than they did and that's all you can really say."
Both teams tallied three errors.
Maison Kalina, Rachael Vieira, Noch and Evelyn Lorimer each added a hit for CMU.
Losing pitcher Keega Hayes (5-3) allowed two runs on five hits and struck out two over four innings. Tar Thacker took over the circle for the final two frames. She walked one.
