The Hillsdale College softball team gained a split of its weekend homestand Sunday, by going 1-1 against conference foe Lake Superior State University.
The Lakers took game 1 3-2, holding off a late Hillsdale rally. The Chargers used the long ball to help win game 2, 4-1.
Hillsdale is now 11-15 overall and 5-11 in the GLIAC, and is scheduled to host Tiffin Tuesday afternoon, though the status of that game might change due to forecasted cold conditions that day.
In the first game, the Chargers outhit the Lakers 9-7, but could not string enough hits together at any point in the game, save for the bottom of the sixth. Facing a 3-0 deficit, Hillsdale got a bases-loaded single from junior Kate Ardrey, then a long sacrifice fly to center by freshman Bekah Kastning to make it a 3-2 game. But the team was unable to push any more runs across in the contest.
The Lakers' only runs of the opener came in the top of the third inning. Outside of that frame, LSSU managed just three hits in the ballgame. Ardrey was 3-for-3 in the opener, while sophomore Sarah Grunert picked up two hits.
Game two was a different story, as Hillsdale jumped into the lead, and did it via the home run. Freshman Cassie Asselta, in her very first collegiate at bat at home, sent a bomb over the left field fence to give the Chargers a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning.
One inning later, Ardrey kept up her strong play at the plate with a two-run blast to left field, which scored Danielle Garceau to turn it into a 3-0 lead. LSSU got a run back in the sixth, but in the top of the seventh, sophomore Ainsley Ellison laced a single to center that scored sophomore Julia Kosco with a big run.
The Lakers threatened in the seventh, sending the game-tying run to the plate, but Ardrey finished the game with a strikeout, securing the win for Hillsdale.
Ardrey went all seven innings, picking up her third win of the season. She struck out three batters in the win.
Asselta led the team by going 2-for-3 in the nightcap, getting a single to go along with her first career home run. Ardrey and Garceau each had a hit and a run scored for Hillsdale. Junior Melissa Felkey was a defensive standout in the doubleheader for Hillsdale, making a sliding catch into the dugout fence early in the first game, then overcoming discomfort in her leg to make a number of stretch put outs that helped the Chargers throughout the day.