ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University softball team secured the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament Championship, and the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Softball Championship, with a convincing 7-1 victory over Calvin University.
The Knights needed a win in the first game of the day to earn their spot in the final game. It took them ten innings but they secured a 3-2 victory over Adrian College to take the final spot. Calvin's first three games in the tournament all went into the tenth inning.
More than warmed up, the Knights secured the first run of the championship game. They led off the top of the second inning with a single before moving the runner to third on a pair of bunts, the first a sacrifice and the second a perfect single that rested on home plate. Freshman Debbie Hill secured the second out of the inning with a strikeout, but some savvy baserunning forced the error by the Thunder defense and gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.
The team didn't have much time to enjoy the success, with Trine's first three batters of the bottom half of the inning reaching base. After a fielder's choice put the first out on the board, the next three Thunder each tallied an RBI. Freshman Ashleigh Tranter went first drawing a walk, before sophomore Emma Beyer and graduate student Cassie Woods each recorded RBI-singles.
The string of runs forced a change in the circle for Calvin, who brought in freshman Emma Ludema who posted a strong performance against Trine in yesterday's 10-inning game. She was able to limit the damage with two quick outs, but the home side took a 3-1 lead into the third.
With the lead in hand, Hill settled in to the circle. She would eventually end her day after six innings allowing just three hits, a walk and the one unearned run. On the other side of the coin she struck out nine batters, her second-highest single-game total for the season.
Hill also helped herself in the bottom of the third when she recorded a solo-shot to centerfield that made the score 4-1.
After two mostly quiet innings, the Thunder loaded the bases again in the bottom of the sixth, this time with two outs. Senior Amanda Prather came up with a huge single that brought home a pair of runs and put the team just three runs away from a run-rule victory. Junior Scarlett Elliott walked in the next at-bat, before classmate Giselle Riley brought in the seventh run of the day after being hit by pitch.
The Knights finally got out of the inning after that play and junior Alexis Michon entered to pitch for the final inning. She recorded three outs all coming on infield fly balls to secure the victory and the championship by the score of 7-1.
The Thunder improve to 35-4 overall following the victory. The next event in their season is the 2023 NCAA Division III Softball selection show which is scheduled for Monday, May 15 at 1 p.m. and will be streamed on NCAA.com.
