Friday, March 5
Leesburg, Fla.
11 a.m.
Central Michigan University
1-2
1
vs
3
New Mexico State
3-5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Central Michigan
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
4
3
New Mexico State
1
0
1
0
1
0
X
3
3
1
Sophomore Kelsey Alexander hit her first career home run on Friday in the Chippewas' 6-5 loss to South Dakota in Leesburg, Fla.
Photo by: Tom Knapp
Softball Drops Two Tight Games In Florida
3/5/2021 6:47:00 PM | Softball
LEESBURG, Fla. – The Central Michigan softball team opened its weekend trip to Florida with a pair of close losses at Sleepy Hollow Complex.
The Chippewas dropped their opener, 3-1, to New Mexico State, and then fell in their second game of the day, 6-5, to South Dakota.
CMU is scheduled to play two games on Saturday, the first at 1:30 p.m. against North Dakota (3-5), and the second at 4 p.m. against Stetson (2-4).
The Chippewas (1-4) stranded a combined 11 baserunners in the two games and committed four errors on the day, three of which came against New Mexico State. To the good, CMU had 12 hits, four of which were for extra bases and included sophomore Kelsey Alexander's first career home run.
"We just know how good of a team we are and the teams that beat us today, we know we can be better," second-year CMU coach McCall Salmon said. "That's the disappointing thing, but we're reminding ourselves it's just the fifth game and we're going to get better, we're going to get more comfortable. We're getting to a point where that newness of your first at-bat of the season, your first grounder, that's starting to wear off.
"We just couldn't close the door. Overall, both games, we just didn't play seven innings. The big thing is we just need to find our consistency and with that consistency play a full game. We have high expectations for this team, and our players have high expectations. We've just got to be better and we will."
The Chippewas got two solid pitching performances from freshman Grace Lehto and junior Kaitlyn Bean. Lehto (1-2) allowed three runs on three hits, walked three, and struck out 11 in taking the loss against New Mexico State. Bean (0-2) surrendered six runs (five earned) on 10 hits, walked three, and struck out nine in taking the loss against the Coyotes.
"I think we saw good things from both pitchers today," Salmon said.
CMU had four hits against New Mexico State's Faapito Matalski, who went the distance in earning the victory and proved to be the Aggies' hitting start with a double, a home run, and two RBI.
Shaidan Knapp and Shannon Stein each doubled for CMU. Stein drove in the Chippewas' lone run with a one-out double in the sixth inning.
The Chippewas led South Dakota, 4-1, in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Coyotes scored five runs on five hits in their final two at-bats. They used a double, a walk, and a two-run triple to tie the game, 5-5, in the bottom of the seventh, and then Jadyn DeWitte walked it off with a run-scoring single to center.
Freshman Abbey Tolmie had three hits to lead the Chippewas, Emily Bracamonte had a two-run single, Alexander homered, and Stein finished with two hits.
Tolmie has hit safely in all five of the Chippewas' games and, with her three-hit effort against South Dakota, raised her batting average to .444.
The Chippewas dropped their opener, 3-1, to New Mexico State, and then fell in their second game of the day, 6-5, to South Dakota.
CMU is scheduled to play two games on Saturday, the first at 1:30 p.m. against North Dakota (3-5), and the second at 4 p.m. against Stetson (2-4).
The Chippewas (1-4) stranded a combined 11 baserunners in the two games and committed four errors on the day, three of which came against New Mexico State. To the good, CMU had 12 hits, four of which were for extra bases and included sophomore Kelsey Alexander's first career home run.
"We just know how good of a team we are and the teams that beat us today, we know we can be better," second-year CMU coach McCall Salmon said. "That's the disappointing thing, but we're reminding ourselves it's just the fifth game and we're going to get better, we're going to get more comfortable. We're getting to a point where that newness of your first at-bat of the season, your first grounder, that's starting to wear off.
"We just couldn't close the door. Overall, both games, we just didn't play seven innings. The big thing is we just need to find our consistency and with that consistency play a full game. We have high expectations for this team, and our players have high expectations. We've just got to be better and we will."
The Chippewas got two solid pitching performances from freshman Grace Lehto and junior Kaitlyn Bean. Lehto (1-2) allowed three runs on three hits, walked three, and struck out 11 in taking the loss against New Mexico State. Bean (0-2) surrendered six runs (five earned) on 10 hits, walked three, and struck out nine in taking the loss against the Coyotes.
"I think we saw good things from both pitchers today," Salmon said.
CMU had four hits against New Mexico State's Faapito Matalski, who went the distance in earning the victory and proved to be the Aggies' hitting start with a double, a home run, and two RBI.
Shaidan Knapp and Shannon Stein each doubled for CMU. Stein drove in the Chippewas' lone run with a one-out double in the sixth inning.
The Chippewas led South Dakota, 4-1, in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Coyotes scored five runs on five hits in their final two at-bats. They used a double, a walk, and a two-run triple to tie the game, 5-5, in the bottom of the seventh, and then Jadyn DeWitte walked it off with a run-scoring single to center.
Freshman Abbey Tolmie had three hits to lead the Chippewas, Emily Bracamonte had a two-run single, Alexander homered, and Stein finished with two hits.
Tolmie has hit safely in all five of the Chippewas' games and, with her three-hit effort against South Dakota, raised her batting average to .444.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Matalasi Faapito (3-5)
L: Lehto, Grace (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Knapp, Shaidan 1 ; Stein, Shannon 1
RBI: Stein, Shannon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tolmie, Abbey 1
HBP: Mills, Samantha 1
PO: Bracamonte, Emily 1
Batting:
2B: Matalasi Faapito 1
HR: Matalasi Faapito 1
RBI: Matalasi Faapito 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Hailey Tanori 2 ; Matalasi Faapito 1
SB: Hailey Tanori 1 ; Ramsay Lopez 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C/OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballOF
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballP/IF
/ SoftballOF/UTL
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