Softball opens MAC play vs. Ohio
The CMU softball team opens Mid-American Conference play this weekend with four road games in Ohio.
Central (13-8) plays a doubleheader Friday against Bowling Green (4-10) and Saturday against Toledo (6-21).
The Chippewas open MAC play as one of two MAC teams with a winning record with Ball State (20-6) the only other school.
The Chippewas are led in the pitching circle by junior Kari Seddon and freshman Kara Dornbos. The two have combined to start 18 of the 21 games so far.
Coach Margo Jonker said the key for her pitchers this weekend is simply to make the batters “mis-hit” the ball. She said she is not focused on her pitchers getting strikeouts, but getting outs any way they can.
“None of our pitchers are extremely overpowering, but they all have enough speed to be good,” she said. “There aren’t very many pitchers in the country that can blow the ball by hitters. We have to be smarter than the hitters.”
Bowling Green has struggled offensively and in the circle early on. The Falcons rank last in the MAC in team batting average (.198) and earned-run average (7.76), and are tied for last in fielding percentage at .938.
Although the team is struggling, freshmen Paige Berger and Hannah Fulk are hitting better than .300.
Toledo has gotten its offense going early in the season, leading the MAC in hits with 188 and is on pace to score more than 200 runs for just the third time since 2000.
Freshman Erinn Wright leads the team with a .349 average, and sophomore Brooke Gates leads the team and is tied for second in the MAC with seven doubles on the season.
Senior Hannah Rockhold already has 23 appearances for the Rockets with a 3.81 ERA.
SPLIT VS. OAKLAND
CMU split a doubleheader Wednesday against Oakland, losing 4-2 in the opener and winning 6-3 in the second game.
Seddon took the loss in the opener and said she made too much of the game before she got out to the circle.
“I was very tight when I came out,” she said. “I think I put too much pressure on myself coming into the game.”
In the second game, junior Brittini Merchant and sophomore Molly Coldren added two RBIs each to help pace the Chippewas offensively.
And after being held hitless in four at-bats in the opener, senior Christina Novak went 3-for-4, scoring two runs.
Dornbos got the win, bringing her record to 6-1.
Jonker said there was a stark contrast from Game 1 to Game 2.
“We didn’t do the little things right (in the first game),” she said. “We tried to make the big play when we should have just made the routine play.”
