Two Heartbreaking Losses for Softball

Saturday, March 11

Minneapolis, Minn.

3 p.m.

Central Michigan University

9-11

Idaho State

8-13

Central Michigan

Idaho State

Photo by: Tom Knapp

3/11/2023 8:23:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Julia Bice

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Central Michigan softball team lost two heartbreaking games on Saturday at the Minnesota Gopher Indoor Classic. Both losses came in walk off fashion at the bottom of the seventh inning.

Game 1

The Chippewas fell in a fashion that has not be unfamiliar this season; one hit away. Central Michigan and Idaho State went back and forth for the full seven innings when the game was finally decided by a walk off single scoring the sixth run for Idaho State as they claimed a 6-5 win.

Kaitlyn Bean started for the Chippewas in the circle and went for three innings. Madelyn Wallace entered in relief for the final three innings of work. Wallace took the loss in the outing.

Abbey Tolmie and Michaleigh Vallimont hit back-to-back home runs in the top of third inning which gave CMU an early 2-0 advantage. Idaho State responded, tying the game after the third inning completed.

Central Michigan manufactured two more runs in the top of the fourth. An Angela Petrovitch single to the first baseman scored Allyssa Hollo who reached by walk and the fourth run came on a Tolmie single which scored Maddie Springer. Idaho State then responded again by scoring two of their own runs to even the score at 4-4.

The Chippewas' final run of the game came when Petrovtich drove in her second RBI of the day and scored Tailynn Knapp, who entered as a pinch runner.

Idaho State scored two runs at the bottom of the seventh to take the win. An RBI single scored the winning run for the Bengals.

Game 2

The Chippewas again battled and played the Big Ten opponent tightly in a great bounce back effort from the game before but host Minnesota took a 2-1 victory in the end.

Grace Lehto pitched a great game for the Chippewas in their nightcap. The junior pitcher struck out eight, allowed only six hits, and two runs. She went the distance in the circle for Central Michigan. The complete game was her fourth complete game of the 2023 season.

Hollo started the top of the fifth inning off with a double and advanced to third when Maddie Springer singled to left field. Caitlyn Britton entered the game as a pinch hitter, and delivered a hit and RBI single to centerfield that scored Hollo.

That one run was the lone run in the game until the final pitch of the contest.

In the bottom of the seventh, Minnesota reached on a soft grounder and then ended the game on a two-run home run.

With the two results, the Chippewas move to 9-12 on the season and close out a 13-game road trip with a final game against St. Thomas on Sunday at 10 a.m. (ET). The two teams faced off on Friday, with the Chippewas registering a 4-0 victory.