The Charger softball team has seen its schedule turned upside down thanks to the terrible winter that hit the Midwest. The team was to play its home openers this weekend, but instead had to play in the southern-most field in the GLIAC Sunday afternoon.
Hillsdale lost both ends of a conference doubleheader to Ohio Dominican University in Columbus by scores of 11-2 and 2-1. The Chargers are now 4-8 overall and 4-4 in the GLIAC, while the Panthers, who like all of Hillsdale's opponents, have played many more games this spring, and are 10-18 on the season.
The game one offense was provided by a pair of solo hime runs in the same inning, thanks to sophomore Sarah Grunert and junio Kate Ardrey. Their blasts cut an early deficit to 3-2, but ODU heated up on offense in the game's last two innings, scoring more than half of its runs in the game in the sixth and seventh frames.
Grunert and Ardrey combined for four of the team's five hits in the series-opening loss.
Game two saw Hillsdale take, and hold, a 1-0 lead for a long time thanks to a gutty performance by sophomore pitcher Sarah Klopfer. She had four strikeouts, no walks and scattered seven hits in the game's first six innings before the Panthers struck for three consecutive hits in the bottom of the seventh to win in walk-off fashion.
The Chargers took the lead in the top of the third when Ardrey laced a single through the left side to score sophomore Ainsley Ellison, who led off the inning with a single.
Ellison had two hits in the second game to lead Hillsdale, while freshman Bekah Kastning, junior Melissa Felkey and Klopfer each had hits for the Chargers.