ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University softball team weathered the storm to swept visiting Hope College to secure back-to-back Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Championships. It is the 11th time the team has won the MIAA since joining in 2005.
The Thunder offense came to play, quickly posting their first run of the day in the bottom of the first inning. The team loaded the bases with a single and two walks before sophomore Scarlett Elliott (Utica, Ohio / Utica) grounded out to bring a run home.
The team would load the bases again in the second, this time with two outs on the board on the back of a single, a hit by pitch and a walk. Senior Ashley Swartout (Westfield, Ind. / Westfield) would come to the plate and make the most of the moment, sending the ball sailing over the outfield fence for the grand slam making the score 5-0 heading into the third inning.
Sophomore Adrienne Rosey (Schoolcraft, Mich. / Schoolcraft) would start the contest for Trine in the circle and made quick work of the first two innings, striking out two while allowing just one hit. She forced a pair of quick outs to start the third as well, but just one pitch into the third batter of the inning the storm hitting forcing a one-hour delay as the rain fell.
Rosey was unfazed returning to the circle and finishing off the at-bat with a strikeout to end the top of the inning.
The bottom half saw the team add to their lead with an RBI-double from freshman Ainsley Phillips (Yorktown, Ind. / Yorktown) who missed out on a homer by just inches as the ball bounced off the outfield fence. Not to be outdone, junior Amanda Prather (Indianapolis, Ind. / Roncalli) would bring in a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth with an off the wall double of her own scoring two and making the score 8-0.
The Flying Dutch extended the game in the top of the fifth scoring a run to hold off the run-rule ending. They would hold the Thunder scoreless over during the fifth and sixth innings to force a seventh. Hope would threaten to extend the game further scoring three runs before Rosey eventually finished of the game securing the team an 8-4 victory.
Rosey finished the game nearly three hours after it started, but only two hours of game time, with her tenth win of the season. She finished with six strikeouts.
The results would tie the two teams in the league standings at 13-2 apiece making the second half of the day the decider for the outright MIAA Regular Season Title. The game would live up to the hype.
It started as a pitching duel, with both teams scoreless through four innings. For Trine, junior Anna Koeppl (Perrysburg, Ohio / Perrysburg) would start the game and pitch those four innings holding the shutout into the bottom of the fifth inning. Hope would work runners to first and second when a single made its way into left field. Prather fired a bullet from the edge of the infield to home plate beating the runner by a step, but the ball was dislodged by the slide and the Flying Dutch would score the first of the game.
Sophomore Lauren Clausen (Elk Grove, Ill. / Elk Grove) relieved Koeppl after the run and worked her way out of the rest of the side unscathed holding the score at 1-0.
After a leadoff out in the top of the sixth, Prather would record a single to reach first. The next batter would reach on an error by the second baseman, moving Prather to second. A fielder's choice would move her to third during the next at bat. And then she would scamper home on a wild pitch tying the game at one.
Hope would threaten in the bottom of the sixth, working a runner to second with two outs in the inning, but Clausen was able to end the threat with a flyball to leftfield sending the tied game to the seventh inning.
Junior Ellie Trine (Kokomo, Ind. / Kokomo) led off the top of the final inning with a single up the middle moving to second on a single from senior Mercede Daugherty (Watervliet, Mich. / Watervliet). Ellie Trine would then come home on a single from Swartout, giving the team their first lead of the game. Pinch runners would enter the game for both Daugherty and Swartout, both would come home on passed balls before the Flying Dutch recorded the third out.
With a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the inning, the Thunder were just three outs away from the championship. The first out came on a poorly hit grounder to the pitcher. The second would come on a sharply hit ball right center field where senior Taylor Murdock (Lapel, Ind. / Lapel) robbed the hit with a spectacular defensive effort. It was the last in a handful of hit robbing plays by Murdock during the day, who played a spectacularly in the field.
Prather also played a spectacular game in the field at short stop. Earlier in the day she had robbed a hit of her own with a spectacular sideways dive into the gap on a sharply hit line drive. She would end the game with another dive, this time forward toward the batter on another line drive ball.
Trine ends the regular season as MIAA champions with a 24-11 overall record and a 14-2 record in MIAA play. They will host the MIAA Softball Tournament beginning on Thursday, May 5 at 11 a.m. Stay tuned for more information on the tournament.