Softball team sweeps Senior Day doubleheader from Albion, 8-0 and 5-2

OLIVET, Mich. – Complete game pitching performances from senior Rachel Cook (Traverse City/Central) and freshman Jessica Duell (Ionia) aided the Olivet College softball team to a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) doubleheader sweep over Albion College today on Senior Day at the Cutler Athletic Complex in Olivet. The Comets won the first game 8-0 in five innings and came-from-behind to win the nightcap, 5-2.

In the first game, Olivet sent 13 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in the second inning. Senior Christine Daub (Hudson) hit a double to start the inning and scored on a double by junior Marlene Packer (Grand Rapids/Creston). Junior Ciara Santos (Lansing/Everett) reached on an infield single, and moved Packer to third.

After Santos stole second base, sophomore Lauren Lenard (Dimondale/Lansing Catholic) lined a single through the left side of the infield to score Packer and advance Lenard to second. Senior Brooke Coshow (Niles/Brandywine) hit a single into centerfield to score Santos. A perfect sacrifice bunt from junior Lindsey Maas (Pinckney) moved each of the runners up one base.

Junior Alison Iuelle (Kentwood/Kelloggsville) walked to load the bases. Sophomore Alyssa Nielsen (Greenville) came through with a single just over the third baseman's head to score Lenard, and re-load the bases. Following a strikeout, Daub was hit by a pitch to plate Coshow with the fifth run of the inning. Packer kept the inning alive with her second hit of the inning, a single up the middle to score Iuelle and Nielsen.

The Comets manufactured a run in the fourth inning on an infield single from Nielsen, a single from Daub and RBI-single from Packer. Cook retired the Britons 1-2-3 in the fifth, and Olivet won the game in five innings because of the eight-run mercy rule.

Offensively, Olivet recorded 10 hits. Packer had her seventh multi-hit game of the season, going a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish with four RBI and one run scored. Daub was 2-for-2, while Nielsen went 2-for-3 with two runs scored. In the circle, Cook needed only 71 pitches and scattered four hits in her five innings of work.

In the nightcap, Albion scored a run in the first and one more run in the third to take a 2-0 lead. The Comets had a two-out rally to score three unearned runs in the fifth inning. Nielsen reached on a fielder's choice and went to third when the right fielder dropped a fly ball off the bat of sophomore Terri Hurosky (Nashville/Maple Valley). Hurosky stole second base. Olivet tied the game at 2-2 when Daub lined a single just over the centerfielder's head to plate both runners.

An infield single by Packer kept Daub kept at second base. A wild pitch moved them both up one base and then an illegal pitch scored Daub with the go-ahead run. Coshow hit a home run over the fence in left field to lead off the sixth inning. Olivet added an unearned run later in the inning to make the score 5-2.

Like the first game, the Comets had 10 hits. Daub was 3-for-4 to raise her batting average to.391. She had three singles, two RBI and one run scored. Packer had two more hits to finish the day 5-for-7. The only other extra base hit besides Coshow's home run was a double by Lenard in the seventh. Duell threw 117 pitches and allowed the two runs on eight hits.

Olivet will take next week off for spring semester final exams and then end its season next Saturday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Hope College.