Softball: Rival Western Comes In For Twinbill
4/10/2018 12:00:00 AM | Softball
SETTING THE SCENE
The Central Michigan softball team will conclude a three-game Mid-American conference series with Western Michigan on Wednesday (1 p.m.) when it takes on the Broncos in a doubleheader at Margo Jonker Stadium. CMU took game one, 5-2, a week ago at the Broncos' Ebert Field.
The game in Kalamazoo was a scheduled doubleheader, but game two was postponed because of weather. In Wednesday's twinbill, Western will be the home team for game two; the Chippewas will be the home team in the nightcap.
RECORDS
With a conference sweep against Buffalo last weekend, the Chippewas (17-15, 7-3 MAC) extended their win streak to eight games. Seven of those wins were against MAC opponents. CMU remains undefeated at home (7-0).
Western Michigan is 19-16, 6-4 and took two of three from league foe Akron last weekend.
WHERE THEY STAND
Central Michigan is second in the MAC West while Western Michigan is fourth.
BIG WEEKEND
The Chippewas hit .424 as a team and outscored Buffalo, 30-8, in posting the sweep last weekend.
That performance pushed CMU to the top of the MAC in batting average (.310). The Chippewa pitching staff is third in the conference with a 2.98 earned run average.
LEADERS
Erika Underwood leads the Chippewas and ranks fourth in the MAC with a .438 batting average. She has also tallied seven home runs, including a walk-off round-tripper against Buffalo in Sunday's run-rule victory which completed the series sweep..
Chippewa pitcher Hanna Warren is sixth in the MAC with a 2.62 ERA and tallied eight strikeouts last weekend. Laura Vaccaro ranks directly behind her teammate in seventh (2.71).
Lacy Tolfree leads the Chippewas with 16 stolen bases.
Samantha Coffel leads Western Michigan with a .383 hitting average.
NEXT
Central Michigan will play host to another instate rival, Eastern Michigan, this weekend. The Chippewas will open the MAC series with a single game on Friday (3 p.m.) and are scheduled for a doubleheader on Saturday (1 p.m). The Eagles are 6-27, 2-8 MAC.
