MIDLAND -- The Cardinal Softball team hit the road for a short trip on Monday afternoon, playing at Northwood University in a league doubleheader. Saginaw Valley claimed the first game by a final score of 10-5 but fell in the nightcap by a narrow 5-4 score.
Game 1
The Cards took a 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning for the lead. Meagan VerVaecke knocked home Sarah Gersch on a squeeze play. Jackie Popko then scored on a wild pitch and VerVaecke scored on a Julia Salisbury groundout.
Saginaw Valley added another run in the 2nd to push it to 4-0 when Gersch reached base on an error and Becky Corbett crossed the plate.
Northwood would go for two runs-apiece in the bottom of the 2nd and 3rd innings to knot the score at 4-4.
SVSU responded with three straight, however, scoring two in the 4th on a Gersch two-run home run and one in the 5th on a Blasia Moyler solo shot to make the count 7-4.
After a single NU run in the 6th, the Cards got three more in the top half of the 7th frame. Moyler added another home run, drilling a two-run shot to left field and then Aubree Mouthaan added a home run herself. That put the game at its 10-5 final score.
With her two home runs in the game, Moyler is now tied with Courtney Reeves atop the single season home run list with her 15 home runs this year. Mouthaan now has 31 for her career, which continues to be a program record.
Gersch added two RBI with a hit and scored twice in the game while VerVaecke had a hit, RBI and two runs scored. Corbett and Popko each had a hit, with Corbett scoring twice and reaching on two walks.
Elayne Young (1-1) got the win in relief, working 2.0 innings while allowing one run on two hits and walking one batter. Julia Mundy picked up her second save of the season with a scoreless 2.0 innings to finish.
Game 2
In the nightcap, the Timberwolves took the 3-0 lead to start with those runs in the 2nd but the Cardinals posted four runs in the top of the 4th to take the one run lead. Shelby Misiak had a sac fly, Gersch drove-in a run on a groundout and Popko had a two-RBI single as well.
Two more runs from Northwood in the bottom of the 4th gave it the lead back and the home team held SVSU to just a couple hits the rest of the way and sealed the 5-4 victory.
Popko, the past weekend's GLIAC Player of the Week, had three hits with a double and two RBI in the second contest. Mouthaan added two hits while Alexis Cerven posted a three-hit game as well. Salisbury had a double, VerVaecke added two hits and Misiak and Gersch each had an RBI.
Mundy (5-6) took the loss pitching, allowing two runs (1 ER) on three hits, walking just one and striking-out five batters.
Up Next...
The Cardinals host Davenport University on Tuesday (Apr. 23) in another GLIAC doubleheader. First pitch will be 3:30 p.m. at the SVSU Softball Complex.
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