ANGOLA, Ind.-- The 14th-ranked Trine softball team prevailed in game one, but Hope rallied to earn the split of the MIAA doubleheader Tuesday evening at SportONE/Parkview Softball Field.
Justine Robles (Long Beach, Calif. / Lakewood0 fired a complete game two-hitter to shut out the Dutch 1-0 in game one. Trine rallied back from a deficit to force extras in game two, but were defeated 4-3 by Hope in eight innings. Trine is now 15-8 overall, 3-1 in conference play. Hope is now 10-8 overall and 1-3 in MIAA play. The Dutch are the only team to beat the Thunder in regular-season conference play since 2012.
Game One: Trine 1, Hope 0
The first game produced no scoring until the bottom of the third inning, when the Thunder scored. Trine's first run came from an RBI by Lainey McCue (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake), her 12th RBI of the year to score Rene Finn (Clinton Township, Chippewa Valley). The remainer of the game passed with Trine clinging to their 1-0 lead over Hope.
The Flying Dutch got their first hit of the day in the top of the fifth inning. The Dutch got a chance to stay in the game in the seventh inning, sending a runner to third base, who was thrown out by Thunder catcher Rachell Noble (Indianapolis, Ind. / Decatur Central).
Trine's Kaitlyn Clark (Mount Juliet, Tenn. / Wilson Central), Kendra Marshall (Leesburg, Ind. /Warsaw), Noble and Rachel Zink (Gahanna, Ohio / Gahanna Lincoln) all contributed one hit, and Kaylee Fox (Vermilion, Ohio / Edison) added two hits herself. Hope's Autumn Anderson and Jenna Maury secured one hit each.
A pitcher switch for the Flying Dutch in the fifth inning gave Sydney Jones four innings and Katie Singer two innings on the mound. Jones was tagged with the loss.
The hero of the first game of the doubleheader was Robles, who struck out a whopping 11 Hope batters, catching the same three players swining in the first inning and third inning. Robles is now fifth in Trine's history with 44 wins.
Game One Recap contributed by Emma Lucas, Trine University, Communications, Profeessional Writing and English Studies, '19
Game Two: Hope 4, Trine 3 (8)
The Thunder rallied back from a two-run deficit, but the Dutch were able to push across the winning run in the extra frame to get the split.
The Dutch took an early 1-0 lead on an infield RBI-single by Katrina Ellis. Fox answered in the fourth to tie the score, launching her second homer of the season to dead center. Fox's bat has heated up in the last week as she has hits in six-straight games, including multi-hit efforts in the last five.
An RBI-single by Sam Waller and a first-and-third rundown produced two more runs for Hope in the fourth to give Hope a 3-1 lead.
Zink scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth, but that's all the Thunder were able to get. An RBI-single by Alison Lang (Rome City, Ind. / East Noble) tied the score in the sixth.
Two two-out walks and an error allowed the winning run to score for Hope in the bottom of the eighth after the game went to extra-innings.
Maddie Bellew picked up the victory with a shutout inning of relief for the Dutch.
Trine returns to action this Saturday, Apr. 9 when the Thunder host Kalamazoo. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.