Game 1 box score - Davenport 8, HC 5
Game 2 box score - HC 11, Cornerstone 3
The Hillsdale College softball team played a pair of non-league night games the weekend before conference play begins, and it came away with one win and one loss.
The Chargers dropped the opener in Grand Rapids, 8-5 to Davenport, before coming back to defeat Cornerstone 11-3 in a game that ended in the sixth inning due to the NCAA's eight-run rule.
Hillsdale is now 7-9 on the season and plays its GLIAC and home opener Saturday, March 28 against the University of Findlay.
In the nightcap, Hillsdale found itself tied in a 3-3 ballgame entering the bottom of the fifth inning. That's when the team was able to string together a long series of good plays, both in the batter's box and on the basepaths, to break the game open.
Senior Melissa Felkey, who had 2 hits and scored 3 runs, got the inning going with a single that scored freshman Kelsey Gockman to put Hillsdale in front. Sophomore Cassie Asselta lined a triple to right during the inning, and senior Jessica Day brought home freshmen Haley Lawrence and Jessica Taylorwith an infield single to conclude the frame.
Junior Sarah Klopfer picked up the win on the mound for the Chargers, striking out two batters in six innings. Asselta had the best offensive game of her career, going 3-for-3 with 3 RBI, coming a home run short of the cycle. Gockman scored two runs, and sophomore Kelli Eddie had a hit, an RBI and a run scored.
In the opener, Hillsdale fell behind Davenport 7-1 through five innings. A four-run rally in the sixth helped close the gap, but was not enough to pick up a win over the Panthers.
Sophomore Bekah Kastning recorded her eighth multi-hit game of the season already, going 2-for-4 with a double, a run batted in and a run scored. Junior Ainsley Ellison was 3-for-3 while junior catcher Danielle Garceau had two hits and two runs scored.