ANGOLA, IND.— Trine scored all of their runs in the first four innings on their way to a 7-1 victory over Washington & Jefferson in the opening round of the NCAA® Division III Angola Regional Championship Friday afternoon.
The Thunder hit three home runs in the contest. Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) homered twice for her first-career multi-homer game to lead the Thunder. The junior All-MIAA performer knocked in three runs. Senior Jamie Lydick (Plainfield, Ind./Plainfield) homered for the first time in her Trine career and knocked in two runs. Bree Fuller (Hubbardston, Mich./Fulton) notched the win with another complete game. The win was Thunder head coach Don Danklefsen's 300th of his career. Kelsey Cunningham finished 1-for-3 with an RBI to lead Washington & Jefferson. Trine advances to face Muskingum tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. The Presidents will face DePauw in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. The Fighting Muskies defeated DePauw 2-1 in the opening round.
Trine wasted no time getting on the board in the bottom half of the first, as Carly Searles launched an 0-2 pitch over the left-field fence to lead off the game and give the Thunder a 1-0 lead.
The Thunder took advantage of a couple errors to tack on two in the second. Jamie Schnarr (Kettering, Ohio/Kettering) coaxed a one-out walk and advanced to third on Catherine Porter's (Canton, Mich./Plymouth Canton) single. Schnarr scored when an overthrow ended up in the dugout, with Porter moving to third on the play. Porter came in to score on another error to make the score 3-0.
Lydick picked an opportune moment for first-career homer, as her solo shot made the score 4-0 and jump-started a two-out rally in the fourth. A single by Haleigh Daniels (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) kept the line moving, before Searles launched her second homer of the day to extend the lead to six. TU added their final run of the inning on an error. Searles finished 2-for-4 with the pair of homers and three RBI's.
The Presidents loaded the bases with none out in the top of the fifth on singles by Madison Rotto, Jen Bahm and Breanna Gleason. Cunningham brought home a run on a fielder's choice, but that was all W &J would get in the inning. A First-Team All-President's Athletic Conference performer, Cunningham also doubled in the game for W&J.
Fuller picked up the victory for Trine in the circle, allowing an earned run on four hits. The MIAA Pitcher of the Year walked two and struck out 12. Fuller is one win from tying Andi Gasco's 2012 campaign for the most wins in a season in school-history.
Krista MCartney was tagged with the loss. She allowed seven runs (five earned) on eight hits and walked two in four innings of work.
Emily Watson tossed two shutout innings of relief for the Presidents.
