ALBION, MICH.-- The Trine softball team showcased their offensive power in a sweep of MIAA-foe Albion Thursday afternoon at Dempsey Field.
The Thunder hit seven home runs on their way to 19-2 and 10-2 victories over the Brits. Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) became Trine's all-time leader in career hits in game two of the doubleheader. Brittany Banks (Trenton, Ohio/Edgewood) and Rachel Harris (Uniontown, Ohio/Hoover) each crushed two home runs, while Haleigh Daniels (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton), Leah Hall (Indianapolis, Ind./Franklin Central) and Kaitlyn Clark (Mount Juliet, Tenn./Wilson Central) all homered as well. The wins extend Trine's school-record win-streak to 27 games and their MIAA win-streak to 42 games. The Thunder are 28-1 overall and 12-0 in the MIAA. Albion falls to 2-19 and 1-9 in conference play.
Game One: Trine 19, Albion 2
The Thunder homered four times and pulled away with a 10-run seventh to seal the victory.
All nine Thunder starters got in the hit column in the victory. Banks and Daniels each homered and drove in four runs in three-hit efforts. Banks' bomb was the first of the freshman's Trine career. Daniels added her 34th-career double.
Clark hit her MIAA-leading 10th homer of the season as part of the 10-run seventh. Clark's 10 homers give her the sixth effort of 10 or more homers in a season by a Trine player. Harris launched a two-run shot in the same inning for her fourth homer of the season. She had two hits in the game.
With a two-run triple, Searles tied her 2012 school-record of 11 triples in a season. That was part of a two-hit, two-RBI effort.
Kendra Marshall (Leesburg, Ind./Warsaw) added two hits, including a double, and three RBI's.
Bree Fuller (Hubbardston, Mich./Fulton) picked up the victory to improve to 15-1 on the season. She allowed an earned run on six hits, did not walk a batter and struck out seven. The junior has won her last 15 decisions.
Game Two: Trine 10, Albion 2 (5)
A three-hit effort by Searles allowed the junior to pass older sister Andi Gasco (2010-13) for Trine's all-time lead in hits. Searles tied the record with an RBI-single in the second, and claimed the record with an infield single in the fifth. Searles now has 193 hits in her Thunder career. She has 18 multi-hit efforts this season.
Banks and Harris stayed hot, as each player homered for the second-consecutive game. Neither player was retired in the second game. Harris finished with two hits and two RBI's, while Banks' homer was her lone hit of the contest.
Hall homered as part of a three-hit, two-RBI effort. With hits in each end of the doubleheader, the junior extended her hitting-streak to 14 games.
Clark added a hit and an RBI in game two to extend her hitting-streak to 19 games. Marshall added two hits and an RBI, while Daniels drove in another run in the victory.
Searles picked up the win with five innings of work. She allowed two earned runs on three hits, walked one and struck out four to improve to 4-0 on the season.
Trine will travel to Calvin Saturday afternoon for a matchup with the second-place Knights. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. A Trine sweep would give the Thunder 44-consecutive conference wins, which would tie Alma's streak from 1997-2000 for the longest such streak in MIAA-history.