On a chilly Saturday that swung from frustration to fireworks, the Hope College softball team elivered one of its most explosive innings of the season and walked away with a doubleheader split against Saint Mary's College(Ind.) on Saturday.
The Flying Dutch fell 5–2 in the opener before erupting for a 13–1 run-rule victory in game two, moving to 22–8 overall and 5–3 in the MIAA, firmly holding fourth place in the league standings with four conference series left in the regular season.
Hope's offense didn't wait long to seize control in game two. The Flying Dutch scored one run in each of the first three innings, setting a steady early tone before the game completely flipped in the late frames.
The fifth inning brought the first big push with RBIs from junior Macy Verbeek (Grandville, Michigan / Calvin Christian HS), sophomore Jalen Fossitt (Onondaga, Michigan / Leslie), and junior Kenadee Schnick (Jenison, Michigan / Jenison) extended the margin to 6–1 and set the tone for what was coming.
Then came the sixth, a full-throttle, lineup-wide surge. Hope sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven times.
With five different batters grabbing singles, the RBIs came from Schnick with two, freshman Emily Brown (Grass Lake, Michigan / Grass Lake), junior Sophie Stironek (Lake Orion, Michigan / Lake Orion) , senior Gianna Kerschbaum (Baroda, Michigan / Stevensville-Lakershore), and sophomore Becca Tuttle (Grand Rapids, Michigan / West Catholic).
Brown delivered a three-hit, two-RBI performance while scoring twice and adding a stolen base.
Schnick matched her energy with two hits, three RBIs, and a stolen base of her own, including a bases-loaded RBI knock during the sixth-inning eruption. Junior Terin Maynard (Grand Rapids, Michigan / Jenison) reached base four times, going 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, two stolen bases, and two RBIs. Stironek added two hits, including a double, and drove in two more, while Fossitt went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored. Tuttle chipped in a double, an RBI, and a run, helping fuel the late-inning surge.
In the circle, junior Hailey Mellec (Commerce Township, Michigan / Walled Lake Northern) threw a 5.0 inning, three-hit, one-run game with seven strikeouts and no earned runs allowed.
Mellec also recorded her 100th career strikeout in the win and improved to 10-6 on the season.
Freshman Ryan Quain (St. Clair, Michigan / Marysville) closed the sixth with a clean inning, striking out one and sealing the run-rule finish.
In game one, the rhythm was much quieter, with St. Mary's scoring in four separate innings while Hope struggled to string together enough offense to match. The Belles struck first for two runs notched in the first inning.
Hope's breakthrough came in the fourth, putting up two runs to tie the game, but the Belles' 5th inning 2-run homer and sixth inning single run score kept the visitors ahead.
Maynard, Stironek, Fossitt and Kerschbaum each recorded a single hit in game two.
Kerschbaum was in the circle for Hope in game one, going all seven innings, allowing six hits, and knocking out seven with strikeouts.
Hope heads on the road to Albion College on Thursday, April 23, at 3 p.m. for a doubleheader
