The Hope College softball team dropped a pair of games against No. 4 Trine University on Saturday afternoon in a showdown for first place in the MIAA.
Hope, which held the top spot for most of regular season play, slid to second in the standings with an 11-3 record, 25-12 overall.
The defending Division III National Champion Thunder took down the Flying Dutch at home with 10-1 and 10-2 wins.
Before the doubleheader, eight seniors were honored before the game: Sydney Zombo (Clinton Township, Michigan / Fraser HS), Peyton Benjamin (Eaton Rapids, Michigan / Eaton Rapids), Grace Henry (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville), Alaina Adams (Oak Creek, Wisconsin / St. Thomas More), Kyra Acker (Eaton Rapids, Michigan / Eaton Rapids), Samantha Vermeesch (Ithaca, Michigan / Ithaca), Jennaka Bultman (Shawnee, Kansas / Shawnee Mission), and Emily Martin (Whitehall, Michigan / Whitehall).
In Game 1, the Trine offense began slow, as Vermeesch held the Thunder to two hits through two innings before lightning struck to activate the visiting team bats.
Trine tallied three runs off of four hits in the top of the third to break open the game and take a 5-0 lead.
Benjamin led Hope, going 2-for-3 at the plate, with two hits with extra bases. One of Benjamin's two doubles sent in classmate Acker to score Hope's lone run in Game 1.
Benjamin swiped a single base against Trine, taking possession of the single-season stolen base record, with 30.
Vermeesch (8-5) allowed eight hits during her time in the circle for 3.1 innings.
Adams allowed just four hits scattered through the remainder of fourth inning as the reliever. The senior continued to shut out Trine through the fifth and sixth innings before Trine's final multiple-run inning in the top of the seventh.
Trine's Debbie Hill, the reigning Tucci NFCA Division III Freshman of the Year and 2023 NFCA All-American, struck out 11 Flying Dutch in the first win.
In Game 2, things started slowly again for the Thunder, who only held a 1-0 lead after the first inning.
Hope took its first lead of the day off a two-strike home run from freshman Sophie Stironek (Lake Orion, Michigan / Lake Orion) that knocked in junior Mady Pahl (Beaverton, Michigan / Beaverton).
Trine answered in the fourth with two runs of its own to regain control of the game.
Bultman (1-3) got the start in Game 2, and held Trine to just two hits through three of her four innings of work.
Pahl topped Hope with two hits in the second loss.
Hope travels to Calvin University for the regular season finale on Friday, May 3, for a double header at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
