GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- No. 4 Trine opened MIAA play with a sweep of Calvin Saturday afternoon at Gainey Field.
Danielle Ray (Hamilton, Ohio / Badin) tossed her second two-hit shutout of the week and Michaela Hartline (Niles, Mich. / Brandywine) homered and drove in four to lead the Thunder to a 5-0 victory in game one. A three-run third was enough for Trine in game two, as the Thunder held off a late rally by the Knights to earn the 3-2 victory. Trine improved to 21-1 overall, 2-0 in the MIAA. Calvin fell to 11-7 overall and 0-2 in conference play.
Game One: Trine 5, Calvin 0
Ray's shutout and the clutch hitting of Hartline led the Thunder to the game one victory.
The first of Hartline's big swings got Trine on the board in the top of the second. Claire Ryan (Union Grove, Wis. / Union Grove) led off the inning with a double, but back-to-back outs left Ryan still standing on second. Hartline changed that with a two-run blast to left-center. Hartline has now homered three times in the last six games.
Ryan started the next Thunder rally, leading off the fourth with a single. She came around to score on a RBI-single by Lainey McCue (Westlake, Ohio / Westlake).
A two-out rally in the sixth produced the final insurance runs. A double by McCue and a walk drawn by Catherine Porter (Canton, Mich. / Plymouth Canton) extended the inning for Hartline, who came through with a two-run double to left center for the final 5-0 margin. Hartline's three hits and four RBIs in game one were both career highs.
Ray set down the first 12 batters of the game in order before a leadoff single in the fifth broke up the perfect game bid. The freshman allowed just two hits to Kaley Frank in the game. She struck out a career-high 11 to improve to 9-0 on the season.
Anna Gernant struck out 15 for the Knights. She allowed five earned runs on nine hits and walked two. Gernant came into the contest ranked fourth in the nation in strikeouts per seven innings.
Game Two: Trine 3, Calvin 2
A three-run third provided all the offense and the Thunder held on late to earn the win.
A RBI-single by Nicole Ferraro (North Royalton, Ohio / Holy Name) got Trine on the board. Ryan was once again the middle of a rally later in the inning, as the freshman doubled home two runs to make the score 3-0. Ryan totaled three hits, drove in two runs and scored two runs in the doubleheader.
Calvin broke through in the sixth on a RBI-single by Jessica Brasser. A walk to load the bases, followed with Gernant getting hit by a pitch forced in another run. A strikeout by Ray got the Thunder out of trouble.
Hannah Kampmann (St. Paul, Minn. / Cretin Derham Hall) earned the victory with 5.2 innings of work. The freshman allowed two earned runs on nine hits and walked three. She improved to 10-1. Ray notched her fourth save of the year, tied for the second-most in a season in team history, with 1.1 innings of relief. She struck out three.
Brasser, Maddie DeGroot and Rachel Borden each notched two hits for the Knights. The two teams combined to leave 24 runners on base in game two.
Trine returns to action Tuesday, Apr. 4 when the Thunder travel to Olivet. First pitch is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
Today's sweep gave Trine head coach Don Danklefesen 398 career wins. He could notch his 400th career victory with a sweep Tuesday. He would become the second coach in any sport in school history to achieve the milestone.