Central Michigan University Athletics
Saturday, April 24
Mount Pleasant, Mich.
1 p.m.
Central Michigan University
9-20, 0
3
vs
6
Buffalo
11-27, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
R
H
E
Buffalo
0
0
2
4
0
0
0
6
8
0
Central Michigan
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
3
8
0
Photo by: Keara Chaperon '22
Softball Can't Overcome Early Deficit, Sees Win Streak End
4/24/2021 7:14:00 PM | Softball
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Buffalo hit a pair of home runs and used a big inning in building an early lead on Saturday in handing Central Michigan a 6-3 Mid-American Conference softball loss at Margo Jonker Stadium.
The loss ended CMU's win streak at five games. The Chippewas swept the Bulls in a doubleheader on Friday and will attempt to win their second-consecutive league series on Sunday (noon) when they meet the Bulls.
"Our goal is to win every series from here on out, and we're still in a position this weekend to do that," CMU coach McCall Salmon said.
Buffalo seized a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the third inning and then scored four times in the fourth. Alexis Matheney led off the fourth with a homer to up the lead to 3-0 and then CMU pitcher Grace Lehto issued three-consecutive walks.
Cloe Mallory relieved Lehto and, after a strikeout, surrendered back-to-back singles as Buffalo increased its lead to 6-0.
Lehto (7-9) struck out three and walked three over 3 1/3 innings in taking the loss. Mallory struck out two and allowed five hits over 3 2/3 frames in her first appearance in three weeks.
"Cloe had to come in in a tough spot and granted she gave up a couple singles, but that's what they were, singles," Salmon said. "She hit her spots and they put the barrel on a couple of balls and were successful. Overall she kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to still come back."
The Chippewas crept back with two runs in the sixth – Kelsey Alexander drove in a run with an infield single and Tala Dean brought in another with a groundout – and one in the seventh on Shannon Stein's RBI double.
The Chippewas matched Buffalo with eight hits – Kelsey Alexander, Shaidan Knapp and Stein had two each -- but stranded eight. The Chippewas hit the ball hard, Salmon said, but couldn't get the key hit to fall.
"The biggest thing for us was that the pitchers they threw against us today threw against us (on Friday) and we've been really consistent with making appropriate adjustments the second time we see a pitcher," Salmon said. "Today that wasn't really the case to start. The fifth, sixth inning we made more of those adjustments. A lot of our outs were loud outs. They made a couple of really nice plays; their shortstop and their second baseman made a couple of rally-killing plays.
"They had to work for those outs. Got to give Buffalo a little bit of credit there."
The loss ended CMU's win streak at five games. The Chippewas swept the Bulls in a doubleheader on Friday and will attempt to win their second-consecutive league series on Sunday (noon) when they meet the Bulls.
"Our goal is to win every series from here on out, and we're still in a position this weekend to do that," CMU coach McCall Salmon said.
Buffalo seized a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer in the third inning and then scored four times in the fourth. Alexis Matheney led off the fourth with a homer to up the lead to 3-0 and then CMU pitcher Grace Lehto issued three-consecutive walks.
Cloe Mallory relieved Lehto and, after a strikeout, surrendered back-to-back singles as Buffalo increased its lead to 6-0.
Lehto (7-9) struck out three and walked three over 3 1/3 innings in taking the loss. Mallory struck out two and allowed five hits over 3 2/3 frames in her first appearance in three weeks.
"Cloe had to come in in a tough spot and granted she gave up a couple singles, but that's what they were, singles," Salmon said. "She hit her spots and they put the barrel on a couple of balls and were successful. Overall she kept us in the game and gave us an opportunity to still come back."
The Chippewas crept back with two runs in the sixth – Kelsey Alexander drove in a run with an infield single and Tala Dean brought in another with a groundout – and one in the seventh on Shannon Stein's RBI double.
The Chippewas matched Buffalo with eight hits – Kelsey Alexander, Shaidan Knapp and Stein had two each -- but stranded eight. The Chippewas hit the ball hard, Salmon said, but couldn't get the key hit to fall.
"The biggest thing for us was that the pitchers they threw against us today threw against us (on Friday) and we've been really consistent with making appropriate adjustments the second time we see a pitcher," Salmon said. "Today that wasn't really the case to start. The fifth, sixth inning we made more of those adjustments. A lot of our outs were loud outs. They made a couple of really nice plays; their shortstop and their second baseman made a couple of rally-killing plays.
"They had to work for those outs. Got to give Buffalo a little bit of credit there."
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Lucyshyn (3-6)
L: Lehto, Grace (7-9)
Batting:
HR: Peters 1 ; Matheney 1
RBI: Aguon 2 ; Peters 3 ; Matheney 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Aguon 1 ; Peters 1 ; Matheney 1 ; Sobaszek 1 ; Fernimen 1 ; Castro 1
HBP: Peters 1 ; Steffan 1
Batting:
2B: Stein, Shannon 1
RBI: Stein, Shannon 1 ; Alexander, Kelsey 1 ; Dean, Tala 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Knapp, Shaidan 1 ; Tolmie, Abbey 1 ; Stein, Shannon 1
HBP: Knapp, Shaidan 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
C/OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
P
/ Softball
P
/ SoftballP/IF
/ SoftballWin Recap vs Detroit Mercy
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Softball vs Detroit Mercy
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Softball vs Ohio
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Softball vs Ohio DH
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