ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine University softball team fell behind early trailing by as many as six runs in the contest before storming back to come up with a 12-9 victory over visiting Kalamazoo College in the opening contest of the 2021 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Softball Tournament.
The Hornets started the scoring in the contest nabbing a pair of runs in the top of the first inning. The Thunder responded in the bottom half of the inning. Senior Victoria Porter (Canton, Mich. / Canton) started the scoring by plating a pair of runs with a single to right field. Freshman Scarlett Elliott (Utica, Ohio / Utica) brought in another with a sharply hit ball to the shortstop.
Kalamazoo would then go on a scoring run over the next two innings plating two runs in the second and five runs in the third to build a commanding 9-3 lead.
Trine cut into the deficit in the bottom of the third. Senior Mercede Daugherty (Watervilet, Mich. / Watervilet) started the inning with a leadoff double and then raced home on another double from junior Ashley Swartout (Westfield, Ind. / Westfield). Elliott brought in another run a few batters later with a single through the left side.
After finally quieting the Hornets' bat in the top of the fourth, the Thunder kept up their offensive push in the bottom half. Two singles led off the inning, before senior Bailey Vande Giessen (Kalamazoo, Mich. / Portage Central) brought in both runners with a double to left field. Vande Giessen scored on another double from Daugherty. Porter finished off the scoring in the inning with a double later in the inning and the teams entered the fifth inning tied at nine runs.
A pair of Trine batters reached base in the bottom of the fifth and Daugherty recorded her third double of the game bringing in both runners to take an 11-9 lead, their second lead of the game and first since the first inning.
Elliott added an insurance run with her fifth homer of the season in the sixth inning to give the Thunder their final 12-9 lead.
After a rocky start in the circle for the team, Freshman Adrienne Rosey (Schoolcraft, Mich. / Schoolcraft) entered the game in the top of the fourth and righted the ship with four solid innings of work to earn her sixth win of the year.
Following the victory, the team improves to 29-8 overall and advances to the winners' bracket of the Pool-A play. They will await the winner of the Alma College and St. Mary's College contest which is now scheduled for 5:30 p.m. today, Thursday, May 6.