CLEVELAND, OHIO-- The 13th-ranked Trine softball team extended their winning-streak to 13 games by sweeping Case Western Sunday afternoon at Krenzler Field.
Bree Fuller (Hubbardston, Mich./Fulton) threw a complete-game shutout in the 5-0 victory in game one and picked both wins in the circle for the Thunder. Trine broke out the big bats in game two as Kaitlyn Clark (Mount Juliet, Tenn./Wilson Central), Rachel Harris (Uniontown, Ohio/Hoover) and Catherine Porter (Canton, Mich./Plymouth Canton) homered. Porter's homer was the first of her collegiate career and was part of a four-hit, three-RBI day. Clark has now homered in four of the last five games. Harris had four hits and drove in three runs in the doubleheader. Trine improves to 14-1 on the season. Case Western falls to 10-8.
Game One: Trine 5, Case Western 0
An early run proved to be more than enough for Fuller and the Thunder tacked on extra runs late in the 5-0 victory.
Trine struck first on the top of the first, with Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) setting the table with a leadoff single. The speedster went from first-to-third on Clark's sacrifice bunt. Harris singled through the right side to score Searles to make it 1-0.
That would prove to be enough run support for Fuller, who struck out seven and scattered five hits to earn her eighth-career shutout. She now ranks third all-time in shutouts in Trine history.
The Thunder tacked on two runs in the fifth and sixth. Harris and Hall each picked up an RBI-single in the fifth. Searles ripped an RBI-triple, while Clark added an RBI-double in the sixth.
Game Two:
Trine built a seven-run lead and withstood a late push by Case Western to earn the 10-7 victory.
Gena Roberts got Case Western on the board in the bottom of the first with an RBI-single, but Porter had the answer in the top of the second. The freshman's two-run shot was her first collegiate bomb, which put the Thunder ahead for good.
Clark and Harris each hit solo homers in the top of the third to extend the lead to 4-1. An RBI-single by Amy Taylor in the bottom half of the inning cut the lead to two.
Searles stole home in the fourth to make it 5-2 before the Thunder exploded for four runs in the fifth. Porter, Alicia Eavey (Avon, Ind./Covenant Christian) and Searles each drove in a run with an RBI-single, while Haleigh Daniels (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) added an RBI-groundout.
Case got back into the game with four runs in the bottom half of the inning. Taylor plated a run with a sacrifice fly before Makenzie Lein hit a three-run homer to cut the score to 9-6. Trine would add a run on a balk, and Anne Wennerberg added a solo homer for Case.
With hits in each game of the doubleheader, Searles extended her hitting-streak to 10 games. She now ranks third among Trine's all-time leaders in hits with 173 in her career.
Fuller notched the win in game two to improve to 8-1 in the season. Porter's three RBI's in game two were a career-high.
Trine returns to action Tuesday, Mar. 25 when they host Anderson at 3:30 p.m.