The Eastern Michigan University softball team won three of its last four Mid-American Conference games to earn a spot in this year’s tournament for the first time since 2007.
The Eagles finish the season 26-16 (12-8 MAC) after sweeping a doubleheader against the Buffalo Bulls Friday and splitting two games against the Kent State Golden Flashes over the weekend.
In game one against Buffalo, the Eagles won by mercy rule, 12-0, in the fifth inning. The Eagles went up 5-0 in the second inning off of five doubles and never looked back. McKenna Russ hit two doubles in the game to help set a new team record for most doubles in a single game with seven.
Jenna Ignowski gave up three hits and struck out four to earn her sixth shutout win of the season.
Game two would prove to be more of a defensive match up.
The Eagles struck first when Sarah Gerber singled up the middle in the opening frame to score Jessica Richards from second base.
Buffalo evened the score off an unearned run in the top of the second because of Lauren Delapaz’s error at first base.
The Eagles answered right back in the bottom of the third inning. Again it was Gerber batting in Richards, this time from third base off a double to left field to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Lauren Wells had seven strikeouts and gave up five hits to pick up her eighth win of the season.
The Eagles’ third MAC contest in two days resulted in a 4-2 loss at the hands of Kent State.
The Eagles scored first when Russ hit a single to center field scoring Nellie Coquillard from second base. The Golden Flashes answered back when Beth Cinadr and Abbey Ledford hit back-to-back solo home runs in the top of the second inning, giving Buffalo a 2-1 advantage.
The Eagles brought in Wells to relieve Ignowski, who dropped to 13-7 with the loss, but the Golden Flashes added to their lead in the top of the fifth when Jessica Carmichael hit a two-run homer to bring the score to 4-1.
The Eagles offense could not answer back, ultimately losing the first of two games against Kent State.
A different day brought different results, however, with the Eagles winning 4-3 in game two.
Buffalo continued its home run hitting in the second game when Carmichael hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead.
Another Carmichael RBI in the top of the third gave the Golden Flashes a 2-0 lead before the Eagles offense got started in the bottom of the inning with Stacie Skodinski hitting a pop fly to center field, which scored Lindsay Smith from third base. Then, with two outs, Gerber hit a line drive up the middle to tie the game.
The score remained tied until the top of the seventh inning, when the Golden Flashes added one more run off of back-to-back doubles.
The Eagles’ senior Skodinski came through in a big way on this Senior Day at Varsity Field. With the game tied at three after a Richards’ sacrifice fly scoring Allison Scherer, Skodinski hit a line drive up the left field line to score Delapaz and steal the win from Buffalo.
The Eagles enter the MAC tournament ranked No. 5 and will take on No. 4 Ball State at 11 a.m. May 11 at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
