by Greg Chandler

Hope College's bid to repeat as Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association softball champions evaporated Saturday afternoon at SportONE/Parkview Field in Angola, Indiana, as Trine University swept the Flying Dutch to edge out Hope by one game for the conference championship.

A three-run uprising in the top of the seventh inning of the second game snapped a 1-1 tie and gave the Thunder a 4-1 victory to complete the sweep. Trine won the opening game, 8-4.

The Flying Dutch finished MIAA play with a conference record of 13-3 and are 24-10 overall heading into next week's conference tournament. Hope will be seeded No. 2.

Trine, which earned the top seed, improved to 14-2 and 24-11.

In the finale, the first four innings were a pitching duel, as senior righthander Chloe Haskins of Brighton, Michigan (Brighton HS) kept Trine off the scoreboard, scattering four hits and stranding six runners. She struck out one batter and walked one.

Sophomore righthander Alaina Adams of Oak Creek, Wisconsin (St. Thomas More) came on in relief in the fifth, allowing a two-out single.

The Flying Dutch broke through in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, junior shortstop Cayley Ebeling of Shelby Township, Michigan (Utica) singled, then took second on an error on a fielder's choice grounder by senior third baseman Bre Nolan of Metamora, Michigan (Lapeer.

Junior catcher Haley Bennett of Livonia, Michigan (Franklin) then delivered a single to left, and sophomore pinch-runner Kyra Acker of Eaton Rapids, Michigan (Eaton Rapids) slid in safely to give Hope a 1-0 lead. The Flying Dutch went on to load the bases, but could not add to their lead.

Trine tied the score in the top of the sixth on a single, error, fielder's choice and wild pitch.

Then in the seventh, the Thunder broke the tie. Ashley Swartout's RBI single put Trine ahead 2-1, and two passed balls led to two unearned runs.

Hope totaled five hits in the second game, with sophomore rightfielder Grace Henry of Hudsonville, Michigan (Hudsonville) the only Flying Dutch player with two hits.

In game one, the Flying Dutch staged a valiant comeback after coming within one out of losing by the run-rule. The Thunder scored in each of the first four innings, highlighted by a Swartout grand slam homer in the second, to build an 8-0 lead.

But Hope got on the board in the fifth as Henry's two-out single up the middle plated Acker, who was pinch-running for Nolan.

Then in the seventh, the Flying Dutch threw a scare into the Thunder, scoring three runs and coming within one batter of bringing the tying run to the plate.

Ebeling singled to lead off the inning, then took second on a groundout. Bennett singled to left to drive in Ebeling. Henry was hit by a pitch. Sophomore centerfielder Peyton Benjamin of Eaton Rapids, Michigan (Eaton Rapids) doubled up the gap in right-center to score pinch-runner Mady Pahl of Beaverton, Michigan (Beaverton). Then with two out, senior first baseman Kaelin Callow of Plainfield, Illinois (Plainfield HS) walked, and the ball got away from the Trine catcher for a passed ball, and Henry came in to score to cut the Trine lead to 8-4. However, the Thunder recorded the final out to preserve the win.