The Hillsdale College softball team was battered by one of the top teams in the GLIAC Wednesday afternoon.
The Chargers were swept by Saginaw Valley State University 9-0 and 10-1 in a pair of games which ended after five innings due to NCAA eight-run rules. Hillsdale is now 7-13 overall and 3-9 in the GLIAC.
The team will play its home opener Thursday afternoon in a non-league doubleheader versus Urbana University.
The Cardinals have a team slugging percentage of .512 and are the GLIAC's highest-scoring offense. A four-run first inning and a five-run fourth inning was all SVSU needed to secure the game one win over the Chargers, 9-0.
The Cardinals limited the Chargers to five hits in the game. Although sophomores Julia Kosco and Sarah Klopfer each had doubles, they were both stranded on base. Sophomore Sarah Grunert, junior Kate Ardrey and freshman Jessica Knepper each had hits in the opening-game loss.
The second game saw the Cardinals hit the Chargers for two runs in each of the first two innings, and six more in the third, sparked by a grand-slam home run. Hillsdale was able manage just three hits in the second game.
Knepper drove home Hillsdale's only run of the day on a single in the first inning that scored Grunert. Junior Melissa Felkey (pictured) had two of the Chargers' three hits on the day, her second three-hit game in her past three outings.