The Hope College softball team bounced back in a dominant way during the first day of spring break play in Winter Haven, Florida.
The Flying Dutch slammed down a 12-0 5-inning shutout win over Salve Regina University after dropping game one of the day 9-0 to Case Western Reserve University.
"They came back strong and showed some real grit in game two," said head coach Brittney Harvey. "They narrowed their focus up to bat and really starting hunting their zones."
Against Salve Regina, Hope came out swinging, grabbing two runs off of two hits, and never looked back.
Junior Samantha Vermeesch threw a 3-hit shutout win for her second win of the season, now 2-1, on Thursday afternoon. The Ithaca, Michigan (Ithaca HS) native saw 19 batters in the five innings needed to take down Salve Regina, walking just one batter and earning one strikeout in the win.
"Sam is really starting to find a groove and trust her spin. She attacked every inning as if it were 0-0. Between her performance on the mound and the solid defense behind her, it was a great Hope softball win."
The big second inning that included five runs for Hope, increased their lead to 7-0. The orange and blue collected the five runs on four hits.
Juniors Emily Martin (Whitehall, Michigan / Whitehall) and Grace Henry each grabbed singles, with Martin recording a single RBI and Henry tacking on two RBIs.
Senior Lexi Potapczak (Naperville, Illinois / Benet Academy) doubled to send in her single RBI of the game, before senior Haley Bennett (Livonia, Michigan / Benjamin Franklin) collected a single of her own to send in Potapczak and Henry to complete Hope's second inning scoring.
Henry (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) led the Flying Dutch with four RBIs in game two of the day, while Pochmara snagged three total RBIs.
Potapczak, Henry, Pochmara and junior Sydney Zombo (Clinton Township, Michigan / Fraser) each had a team-high two hits a piece.
Against Case Western Reserve, Martin had a team-high one hit. Sophomore Grace Connelly (Grandville, Michigan / Grandville) threw out 66 pitches in three innings and moved to 2-1 this season after serving up a single strikeout and walking one.
Hope takes the field again on Saturday, March 18 in Clermont, Florida as they take on Bowdoin College at 2 p.m. and Tufts University at 4:30 p.m.
