Softball's winning streak snapped by Buffalo
Grass Lake senior Abigail Niehaus lungs to catch the ball April 3 at Margo Jonker Stadium.
After being swept in a doubleheader to give a five-game Mid-American Conference winning streak to CMU, the Bulls decided enough was enough.
CMU (9-20, 7-12 MAC) dropped the third game in its series against Buffalo (11-27, 9-14) 6-3 on Saturday at Margo Jonker Stadium, snapping the streak.
The Chippewas now sit in the bottom half of the MAC standings between Bowling Green (18-20, 10-13) and Western Michigan (10-20, 6-10).
"I think Buffalo made some really great plays in key situations," said head coach McCall Salmon. "Yes, we only scored three runs but we hit the ball hard, we had loud outs, we made them (Buffalo) work for our outs and I think it's just kind of one of those, they executed with runners in scoring position and we didn't as consistently as them."
Key moments
With two outs and a runner on first, Buffalo's Alicia Peters knocked a clean pitch from Grace Lehto out of the stadium in the top of the third for a two-run advantage.
Alexis Matheney added a solo home run for the Bulls to open the fourth inning, making it 3-0. Lehto walked three and gave up a hit to load bases in the top of the fourth with one out, forcing the Chippewas to swap for senior Cloe Mallory. Mallory struck out the first batter before allowing back-to-back singles and a walk to allow three runs and load the bases again before delivering a fly-out to close the frame.
"We try to maintain what we call a 'one pitch focus', controlling one pitch at a time," Salmon said. "Your job as a pitcher is to pitch your spot ... and from there, you can't control anything."
Chippewa second baseman Skylar Coberley nailed a single up the middle to open the bottom of the fifth, but was found out in a double play off Emily Bracamonte's drive to second, keeping the Chippewas scoreless. Mallory delivered three straight pop-ups to clean the top of the sixth out in three batters and give CMU another shot in the box.
Abbie Tolmie took third after a base-loading walk in the bottom of the sixth and put CMU on the board on Kelsey Alexander's single. With bases still loaded, Tala Dean drove a deep hit to score Shannon Stein from third to total for 6-2.
Down by four in the final frame with two outs, Shannon Stein ripped a double to right field, scoring Shaidan Knapp from first base. Stephanie Anderson moved to second for Stein to run, but a final fly-out sealed the deal and Buffalo snapped CMU's five-game win streak at 6-3.
Key performances
Lehto pitched 3 1/3 frames, allowing six runs off three hits, three walks and three strikeouts. Mallory stepped in to take majority for the other 3 2/3 innings, claiming the loss at two strikeouts, no runs on five hits.
Buffalo's Alexis Lucyshyn pitched a complete game, delivering three strikeouts with three walks but allowing just three runs on eight hits to rout the Chippewas.
Dean, Alexander and Stein's contributions amounted for a total of 3 RBI. Stein, Alexander and Knapp each claimed six of CMU's eight hits.
Peters totaled 3 RBI for the Bulls with two hits.
Up next
CMU and Buffalo will return to Margo Jonker Stadium for one last showdown on Sunday at noon.
