WSU Sweeps Doubleheader From Hillsdale

Detroit, Mich. – The Wayne State softball team (15-12, 4-1 GLIAC) when from one extreme to the next in a pair of league victories over Hillsdale on April 5 at the WSU softball field. The Warriors needed eight innings to win game one 4-3, before pitching a 9-0 mercy rule shutout in game two, in which Hillsdale only had one hit. WSU has won three straight games and four of its last five.

In game one, senior Kelly Kashmerick (Flushing) led off the game with a home run, which was followed by junior Betsy Kirk (Etobicoke, Ontario) scoring on a Hillsdale wild pitch that gave Wayne State a 2-0 lead after one inning. The Chargers would respond with three runs in the top of the second inning, however, the Warriors would tie the game in the fourth inning off an RBI double from Kashmerick that scored sophomore Johanna Proulx (Brampton, Ontario).

The score remained tied at three until the eighth inning as freshman Lisa Gauthier (Burton/Kearsely) drew a one-out walk. Gauthier would eventually get to third base, but had to be replaced by freshman Sara LeBlanc (LaSalle, Ontario) due to an ankle injury while running into the bag. The game would end just one pitch later as HC pitcher Joelle Frantz threw a wild pitch that scored LeBlanc, giving WSU the win. Kashmerick led the team, batting 2 for 4 with two RBI and a run scored. Gauthier relieved starter Connie Milroth and allowed four hits and no runs in five innings pitched to garner her fifth win of the season (5-3).

In game two, junior Amy Thiede (Riverview) pitched a one-hitter and sophomore Beth Berry (Blissfield) hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to give WSU a 9-0 mercy rule win. The Warriors picked up four runs in the first, highlighted by three straight singles by sophomores Leah Ondrovick (Tecumseh), Maria D’Agostino (Wixom/Walled Lake Western) and Lindsay Sammut (New Baltimore/Lakeview) and a double hit on a rope by junior Katie Pickhover (Fenton).

The Warriors would add three more runs in the second and took their 7-0 lead into the fifth, before Berry hit her two-run shot to left field. Thiede settled down after the first two innings by not allowing a base runner in Hillsdale’s final three at bats. Ondrovick went 3 for 4 with two RBI, while Pickhover went 2 for 2 and Berry 1 for 2. Thiede picked up her first win since March 11 against Florida Southern (3-5), giving up just one hit in the second inning.