Softball Earns Series Split With Sunday Win At Bowling Green

Sunday, March 21

Bowling Green, Ohio

12 p.m.

Central Michigan University

4-9, 0

Bowling Green

10-9, 0

Central Michigan

Bowling Green

Photo by: Steve Simoneau

Softball Earns Series Split With Sunday Win At Bowling Green

3/21/2021 4:31:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Lehto strikes out 9, Knapp homers in Chippewa win

By: Julia Bice, CMUChippewas.com

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Freshmen Grace Lehto struck out nine and Shaidan Knapp hit a two-run homer on Sunday to lead the Central Michigan softball team to a 5-2 victory over Bowling Green in the finale of a four-game Mid-American Conference series at the Falcons' Meserve Field.

The teams split the series. CMU is 4-9, 2-2 MAC. Bowling Green is 10-9, 2-2.

Lehto (3-5) allowed two runs on six hits and did not walk a batter in going the distance.

Knapp's two-run homer in the fifth inning broke a scoreless tie. The Chippewas added two runs in the sixth on a Gisele Acuña two-out, two-run single, and then got an insurance run in the seventh on an Abbey Tolmie RBI single.

The Chippewas rebounded to take two of the final three games of the series after being no-hit in Friday's opener. CMU collected 23 hits over the final three games of the set.

"It will be a grind every weekend," CMU coach McCall Salmon said. "In order to stay competitive in the MAC this year we are going to need to at least split every series, if not win some."

Knapp, Morgan Gardner and Kelsey Alexander had two hits apiece to lead the Chippewas' nine-hit attack and CMU played error-free defense in backing Lehto. It was CMU's second-consecutive errorless game.

"Not every player is going to have their best game each day, so when they don't, their teammate is going to step up and have theirs," Salmon said. "It is the nature of the game."

The Chippewas are scheduled to play a four-game MAC series next weekend at Miami (Ohio), which is 11-6 and opened league play this weekend with a four-game sweep of Western Michigan. Three of those wins came on the run rule as they outscored the Broncos by a combined 40-2.

"We are definitely starting the season with a tough test of teams to face, and that I think is going to have a positive payoff moving forward," Salmon said.