CMU softball goes 2-1 at Coastal Carolina Chanticleer Showdown
Clarkston freshman Abbey Tolmie hits the ball during the Chippewa's game against Buffalo April 24 in Margo Jonker Stadium.
Central Michigan softball dealt with a variety of factors in its weekend trip to Coastal Carolina, both positive and negative.
The Chippewas came out with their bats on fire for the first game, couldn’t keep them rolling for the second or third, had a momentary scare with a bus crash on Friday night, came together and won the game the next night. To top it off, they nearly came back in their final game before it was called off due to bad weather.
The Chippewas finished the weekend 2-1 with wins over Maryland and Dartmouth, bringing their record to 4-4 on the season.
“First off all I just want to say how proud I am of all of our players,” Head Coach McCall Salmon said about her team’s performance this weekend after their bus crash on Friday night. “It really shows how strong and resilient each and every one of them are. It was an extremely traumatic event”
Game One
The Chippewas bats were fired up in their first game of the weekend with a 5-4 victory over Maryland.
Senior Shannon Stein lead the offense with two doubles and a homerun. The Chippewas finished the game with nine hits, three of which went for extra bases.
Kaitlyn Bean took the circle for the Chippewas, pitching four winning and getting her second win of the season. She allowed four runs while striking out two. Grace Lehto came into the game in fifth to relieve. She managed to keep Maryland off the board, striking out three in 2 2/3 innings pitched.
With Lehto in the circle, the Terps would tie the game at four in fourth. The Chippewas would continue to stay hot with lead off hit from Skylar Coberley to start the fifth. Hollo would give the Chippewas the lead and eventually the win once again with an RBI single to knock in Coberley.
Letho and the Chippewas defense held the Terpes scoreless for the final two innings, giving the Chippewas a 5-4 victory.
Game Two
Despite a home run in the first inning, the Chippewas would fall to Coastal Carolina 9-3 after five innings.
Faith Howe pitched for the Chippewas but would be pulled after giving up a home run to Costal. She gave up five runs and was relieved by Caitlyn Britton, who allowed four.
The Chippewas would jump to an early lead with a double from Tolmie followed by a home run by Coberley to bring the score to 2-0.
Costal Carolina would respond quickly getting three runs in the bottom of the first with a home run from Keirstin Roose knocking in Riley Zana and Iyanla De Jesus to give Costal a 3-2 lead over the Chippewas. Coastal Carolina would add onto their lead in the third with two runs while the Chippewas were unable to get on the board. With three hits in the third Costal Carolina extended their lead to 5-2.
With a single from Lucy Cronin in the fourth, the Chippewas bats got going once again. Tolmie added in with a single to advance Cronin to second and Stein singled to left to allow Cronin to score and cut Coastals lead to 5-3. Costal would snuff out the rally, pushing four runs across over the next two innings.
Game Three
After a bus crash Friday night, the Chippewas luckily came out with minor injuries and came together for a win against Dartmouth 2-0.
Lehto took the mound for the Chippewas and shut down the Dartmouth offense with a career high eleven strikeouts. She threw 84 pitches through seven innings giving up zero hits and no base on balls.
“Grace was fired up and threw extremply well and wanted to be the best for the team and she provided us with that spark” McCall said about sophomore Grace Lehto’s pitching performance.
The Chippewas would come out fired up in the first loading the bases but would be unable to get on the scoreboard. Finally in the second inning they got on the scoreboard with a double to center from Emily Bracamonte who was later knocked in by Sam Souva with an RBI single.
Lehto would dominate in the circle and shut down any attempt for Dartmouth to get on the scoreboard. The Chippewas defense had her back when she needed it and only allowed Dartmouth to have two hits during the game.
The Chippewas would get their final run of the game came in the third from an error to score Kelsey Alexander to bring the Chippewas final score to 2 and Dartmouth 0.
Bracamonte would show her skills off in the field by catching a bunt in the air and turning it into a double play back at first.
Game Four
Due to rainy weather the Chippewas final game of the weekend against North Carolina A &T was deemed incomplete.
“Can’t really control the weather, but getting back out there today was another tough task and just seeing them back on the field was important for their recovery," Salmon said.
After a rain delay in the fifth inning, the Coastal Carolina facilities crew made the choice to call the game and deem it incomplete.
Before the game was called, the Chippewas were on their way to comeback. After being down by three, they had managed to take the lead on a Coberly bases-loaded walk in the fifth right before the game was called.
With one out in the fifth and bases loaded, the game went into a rain dealy and was eventually called. The Chippewas leave the weekend going 2-1 and 4-4 on the season.
The Chippewas are back in action next weekend in the sunshine state of Florida for another weekend of softball in Madeira Beach. Their first game is set for Friday March 4 at 11 a.m.
