XENIA, Ohio -Lake Superior State softball dropped a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader against Ashland on Saturday in Xenia, Ohio. The games, rescheduled from Sunday, were moved to the neutral location due to poor weather conditions at Ashland's home field.
The Lakers (4-24, 0-12 GLIAC) fell 15-0 in a shortened five-inning contest to open the day before losing a late lead in the second game and eventually falling 14-7 in extra innings.
In Game 1, the Eagles (17-16, 7-5 GLIAC) picked up a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning before scoring 13 runs in the bottom of the second inning on five hits and six walks, effectively putting the game out of reach. The defense for the Lakers also committed three errors in the second inning, and after a solo home run by Alexis Van Horn to open the frame, the following 12 runs each came across the plate unearned.
Lindsey Pajot and Katie Martin each went 1-for-2 at the plate and starting pitcher Alyssa Boucher (L, 1-6) went 1-for-1 with a single and a walk in her two plate appearances to lead the Lakers. Ashland out-hit the Lakers 9-3.
Sarah Alley (W, 8-6) pitched the full 5.0 innings for Ashland and struck out six batter with just the lone walk against Boucher.
Game 2
The teams switched home and away designations for the second game and after Ashland opened the scoring in the top of the second, the Lakers responded with three runs in the bottom half to take a 3-1 early lead. With one out in the frame, freshman Kelsey Mader singled to center field to score Katey Hendershott to tie the game at 1-1. Emily Estep then followed with a single to score Katie Martin and Lindsey Pajot reached on a fielder's choice to score Mader, unearned.
The Eagles tacked on three runs in the third inning with a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly to reclaim the lead, which they would add to with an RBI single by Jen Moore in the fourth inning.
The top half of the order responded for the Lakers in the bottom of the fourth to score four runs on five hits, producing a 7-5 advantage. Junior Carly Banchiu opened the scoring with a one-out single to second base, scoring Estep and advancing Pajot to third base. After a wild pitch advanced Banchiu to second base, Teryn Williams delivered her 14th RBI of the season with a single to score Pajot.
Kylie Durre kept the fourth inning rally going with an RBI single of her own to score Banchiu and was followed up with an RBI single Taylor Steinhelper two batters later.
Both sides went scoreless through the fifth and sixth innings.
In the seventh inning, with the Eagles down to their final two outs, Marissa Caraballo delivered a two-run double to tie the game and force extra innings.
Ashland went on to score seven runs in the eighth inning, highlighted by Van Horn's second home run of the day, to put the game ultimately out of the reach of the Lakers.
The Lakers next travel to Ferris State on Thursday to make up a pair of postponed games at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. before hosting Walsh and Malone in Midland, Mich. on April 16-17.
