ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine University softball team came up with a pair of Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) wins over visiting Albion College today, Saturday, April 3. The First came in a tight match by the score of 3-1 while the second featured an offensive explosion and the Thunder came up with a 16-3 victory.
Trine trailed in the first contest after a bases-loaded single gave the Britons a 1-0 lead. The hit came directly following the entry of freshman Adrienne Rosey (Schoolcraft, Mich. / Schoolcraft) to the pitching circle in relief of the team's starter. It would be the lone hit she allowed in her 4 2/3 innings of work. She recorded 11 strikeouts in the game and walked zero.
All she needed to earn the win was some run support and her team provided that for her with a pair of home runs in consecutive innings. The first came in the fifth inning when senior Bailey Vande Giessen (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Central tallied the second homer of her season to score a pair of runs and take the lead. Senior Mercede Daugherty (Watervilet, Mich. / Watervilet) led off the sixth inning with her second homer of the year to give the team a 3-1 lead.
With Rosey's performance from the stripe, it was more than enough for the freshman's third win of the season.
The Thunder offense exploded in the very first inning of the second game, as the team batted through the lineup twice and plated 14 runs. Two members of the team homered in the inning. The first came from junior Ashley Swartout (Westfield, Ind. / Westfield) who came up with one of the three-run variety giving the team an 11-0 lead. A few at-bats later freshman Scarlett Elliott (Utica, Ohio / Utica) came up with the first homer of her career to add two more to the board and give the team their 14-0 lead.
Albion looked ready to respond in the bottom of the first as they came up with a homer of their own to plate two runs and cut the lead to 14-2.
But the lead was too much and the Thunder added extra insurance runs in the top of the third with a homer from senior Victoria Porter (Canton, Mich. / Canton) and a single from Elliott in the fourth that brought in another run to bring the lead to 16-2. The Britons added another homer in the bottom of the fourth to score their final run of the day at 16-3.
Elliott led the team with four RBIs in the contest, while Swartout and Porter each finished with three. Daugherty finished with two along with sophomore Ellie Trine (Kokomo, Ind. / Kokomo).
Sophomore Anna Koeppl (Perrysburg, Ohio / Perrysburg) got the win in the circle after she started the game and recorded three strikeouts. Freshman Lauren Clausen (Elk Grove, Ill. / Elk Grove) pitched two innings in relief and recorded two strikeouts of her own.
The Thunder improve to 14-4 overall and 4-0 in the MIAA. They will continue their season on Tuesday, April 6 when they host Saint Mary's College for another MIAA doubleheader. The first game is set to begin at 3 p.m.