Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Sydney Jones matched her career-high in strikeouts to help the 24th-ranked Hope College softball team split at Aurora, Illinois on Tuesday.
The freshman from South Lyon, Michigan (South Lyon East HS), struck out eight to lead the Flying Dutch to a 6-2 Game 1 win.
Hope (23-5 overall) dropped Game 2 by a 3-2 margin after Aurora (22-4) hit a walkoff homer run in the bottom of the seventh.
Jones allowed three hits in 4 2/3 innings. She did not walk a batter.
Five different Hope batters recorded RBI to support Jones. Junior rightfielder Kate Laverty of Eaton Rapids, Michigan (Eaton Rapids HS), closed the scoring with a two-run single during a three-run sixth.
Vanessa Wegner's one-out, walkoff homer in the seventh of Game 2 snapped the Flying Dutch's 12-game win streak.
Hope rallied to tied the score at 2-2 with two runs in its half of the seventh. Laverty knocked in junior shortstop Jenna Maury of Lawton, Michigan (Lawton HS), with a RBI triple and later scored on an error.
The Flying Dutch return to action on Saturday with a 1 p.m. MIAA doubleheader at Saint Mary's.
