HOLLAND, Mich.-- Hope ended Trine's MIAA-record setting win-streak in game two as the Thunder and Flying Dutchmen split a doubleheader Tuesday evening at Wolters Stadium.
Trine took game one, 5-3 before Hope prevailed 15-10 in the game two slugfest. The Flying Dutch victory in the nightcap halted Trine's MIAA-record winning streak in regular-season conference games at 49 wins. The last MIAA loss for the Thunder had come to Adrian all the way back in 2012. Each team hit four home runs in doubleheader. Peyton Wells homered three times and drove in seven runs to lead Hope. Kaylee Fox (Vermilion, Ohio/Edison) hit two home runs and picked up four RBIs to lead Trine. The Thunder are 19-2 overall, 3-1 in MIAA play. The Flying Dutchmen are 12-4 overall, 2-2 in conference play.
Game One: Trine 5, Hope 3
The Thunder got a solid pitching effort from Bree Fuller (Hubbardston, Mich./Fulton) and got enough hitting to earn the game one victory.
The two teeams traded zeroes for the first three frames before Trine put together a rally in the fourth. Fox knocked in the first run of the day with an RBI-single with none out.
Jamie Schnarr (Kettering, Ohio/Kettering) followed with a three-run homer over the scoreboard to give the Thunder a 4-0 advantage. The home run was the senior's third of the season. Schnarr extended her hitting-streak to seven games with hits in each end of the doubleheader.
The Flying Dutchmen rallied in the late innings, getting on the board on an Autumn Anderson RBI-double in the fifth. Becca Phillips and Peyton Wells each added solo home runs in the sixth.
Hope had an opportunity to tie the score on a deep drive by Sierra Mutschler, but Carly Searles (Levering, Mich./Petoskey) went airborne to rob the home run and keep the Thunder in control.
Searles then scored an insurance run on an RBI-single by Kaitlyn Clark (Mount Juliet, Tenn./Wilson Central) in the seventh.
Fuller went five-plus innings to earn her 55th-career victory, which now ranks third in Trine softball history. The senior surrendered two earned runs on five hits and struck out three. She is unbeaten in eight decisions this year.
Justine Robles (Long Beach, Calif./Lakewood) came out of the bullpen to earn her second save of the season.
Hope 15, Trine 10
The Flying Dutchmen pounded out 16 hits as they prevailed in the slugfest.
Wells homered two more times in game two, the first of which was part of a four-run first. The Dutch held a 6-2 lead through three and a half innings of play. Becca Phillips knocked in a pair of runs in the early innings as well.
Trine struck back for an eight-run fourth, as Fox homered twice in the same inning. The freshman got things started with a solo homer to cut the score to 6-3 and capped the scoring with a two-run shot. The performance gave Fox her first career multi-homer game and the second multi-homer inning on record in team history.
Searles hit a two-run double, while Rachell Noble (Indianapolis, Ind./Decatur Central), Alicia Eavey (Avon, Ind./Covenant Christian) and Clark added run-scoring hits in the inning. Searles moved into second on Trine's all-time list in career-RBIs with 130.
The 10-6 lead didn't last long however, as Hope hit back for six of their own in the fifth. RBI-singles by Anderson and Sammi Adams cut the score to 10-8 before Wells unloaded for a grand slam to give the Dutch a 12-10 lead.
Trine couldn't muster any offense the rest of the way, while Hope added three insurance runs in the seventh for the final margin.
Trine returns to action Saturday, Apr. 4 at Kalamazoo. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. The Thunder had been scheduled to play a doubleheader with Ohio Northern on Wednesday, but that game has been postponed to a yet-to-be-determined date.