The Hillsdale College softball team took care of business on Monday, rolling past host Lake Erie in two shutout victories that give the Chargers their third-straight 30-win season, and keep G-MAC title hopes alive entering the final weekend of play.
Hillsdale's pitching staff of Joni Russell and Erin Kapteyn dominated the Storm bats, conceding just five hits in the doubleheader and allowing runners in scoring position just twice on the day.
In the first game, a 4-0 Hillsdale victory, Russell took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and conceded just two hits in the game, striking out 11 of the 24 batters she faced and walking just one for her fifth shutout of the season.
With Russell dominating on the mound, the Chargers got the breakthrough hit they needed in the fifth inning, as freshman Taylor Lewis paid off back-to-back singles to open the inning with a double down the left-field line that scored two runs.
The Chargers tacked on two more insurance runs in the top of the sixth, as junior Grace Wallner followed Emma Vis' double with a double of her own to drive in a run, and then stole home in a first and third play with two outs to give Hillsdale a 4-0 edge entering the final inning.
In the nightcap, after getting out of a bases-loaded jam without giving up a run in the bottom of the first, Kapteyn cruised through the next five innings in a 10-0 shutout victory, conceding just one hit in the final five innings and striking out six in a strong performance.
The Chargers gave Kapteyn plenty of run support in the win. Freshman Anna Chellman hit a two-run home run in the top of the second to put the Chargers out in front, and Hannah Hoverman followed Chellman with a solo shot of her own in the next at bat to give Hillsdale a 3-0 lead.
Wallner and Vis each added a RBI single over the next three innings to extend Hillsdale's advantage, and the Chargers triggered the run rule in the top of the sixth, as Hoverman added a RBI double to her total, Emma Sather chipped in a RBI single, and Maggie Olaveson hit a two-run home run.
After managing just five hits in the opener, Hillsdale pounded out 13 in the nightcap. Wallner went 3 for 4 at the plate to lead the Chargers, and McKenna Eichholz, Sather and Hoverman each chipped in two hits.
With the win, the Chargers improve to 30-17 overall, 16-4 in the G-MAC, and clinch a berth in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament. The Chargers enter the weekend two games back of G-MAC leader Ohio Dominican, who sits at 18-2, but Hillsdale controls its own destiny with two games at Ohio Dominican this coming Saturday. Win the final four contests of the regular season and the Chargers would be guaranteed at least a share of a second-straight regular season crown, and the top seed in the upcoming G-MAC Tournament.
First, however, Hillsdale has to take care of business against a dangerous Findlay team, who comes to town on Friday for Hillsdale's final home doubleheader of the season at Johnny Williams Field. That doubleheader, which starts at 3 p.m., will also be Senior Day for the Chargers, as Hillsdale honors its lone graduating senior, Jenna Cantalupo.
Photo by Isabella Sheehan