There were enough crazy plays, controversial calls and jaw-dropping sequences to last a whole season in just the last two innings of the second game of Friday's softball doubleheader between Hillsdale College and Ferris State University.
But when the dust all cleared, it was the Chargers who somehow came away with an 8-6 win to complete a season-saving sweep of the Bulldogs. Hillsdale is now 23-19 overall and 14-10 in the GLIAC.
The Chargers will host Grand Valley State at 11 a.m. Saturday in the regular season finale. The program will honor its three graduating seniors in a pre-game Senior Day ceremony.
Fittingly, all three seniors had huge plays as part of the Hillsdale wins.
Senior Melissa Felkey sent a rocket to center field in the top of the seventh inning of game 2, scoring sophomore Bekah Kastning with the go-ahead run of a back-and-forth contest. Her hit started a three-run rally that helped the Chargers break a 5-5 tie and take an 8-5 lead.
In the bottom half of the seventh inning, Day made an incredible diving catch in left-center field to record the first out of the inning. The catch sent the team's coaches into jumps of joy, and temporarily, stopped the hearts of several of her teammates watching from the dugout.
In game 1, Ardrey hammered a two-run home run off the scoreboard as part of a huge day at the plate. She drove in a career-high 4 runs in the opener, and finished the day with 7 runs batted in for the Chargers.
Freshman pitcher Danielle Stiene recorded wins in both halves of the doubleheader, improving her to 13-7 on the season. Her strikeout total rose to 184 for the season, second-most in school history.
In game 1, Kastning drove in 2 runs while Sarah Klopfer was 2-for-3. Sarah Grunert was 3-for-4. Kastning needs just one hit Saturday to become the fifth player in school history with 60 hits in one season.
In game 2, Ardrey was 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored and 3 RBI, and Felkey drove in 2 runs.