Game 1 box score – Hillsdale 12, Ferris State 3 (5 inn.)
Game 2 box score – Hillsdale 3, Ferris State 1
As the Charger softball team keeps moving into uncharted territory, its leader hit a nice milestone Friday afternoon.
Head coach Joe Abraham won his 100th game as Hillsdale College head coach in the Chargers' doubleheader sweep of Ferris State, 12-3 and 3-1 in Big Rapids. The wins put Hillsdale at 18-6 overall and 13-3 in the GLIAC.
Abraham has led the program to three 20-win seasons since 2012 and reached his 100th Hillsdale win faster than any coach in more than two decades. His team reached that milestone at a field where it has traditionally struggled.
In the opener, Hillsdale jumped on the Bulldogs with three first-inning runs. Cassie Asselta, Kelsey Gockman and Haley Lawrence each picked up RBI singles in the frame. Senior Sarah Grunert hit double figures in pitching wins for the first time in her career with the victory.
Ferris State knotted the game up with a three-run third, but in the next half inning, Hillsdale exploded.
The Chargers loaded the bases without a hit and one out when junior Bekah Kastning's single up the middle scored two to get a nine-run inning started. Lawrence brought home two with a double. In all, five out of six batters got hits with at least two runners on base, and the one who didn't get a hit in that run, Asselta, was hit by a pitch.
Eight of the nine players in the lineup got hits in the opener, led by two apiece from Katie Kish, Lawrence and Gockman.
Game two was a much tighter contest, with the teams entering the bottom of the sixth tied at 1. Freshman Amanda Marra came through in the clutch once again, doubling home Kastning with the go-ahead run. Danielle Garceau added an infield single that scored Asselta with a valuable insurance run.
Senior Sarah Klopfer improved to 8-4 on the season, tossing seven walk-less innings with four strikeouts. Kastning was 2-for-3 with a run scored and a run batted in, while Marra was also 2-for-3.
UP NEXT: Hillsdale hosts Saginaw Valley State at 1 p.m. Saturday.
PHOTO CREDIT: Kadie Lowery