May 3, 2002
SOFTBALL
ALMA, MI - Calvin saw its season come to a close on Friday afternoon, as the
Knights dropped a 7-1 decision to host Alma. It was the second meeting between
the two teams in as many days, as the Knights were able to upset the
league-leading Scots on their home-field Thursday afternoon, 1-0. With the
loss, the Knights were able to grab third place in the two-day MIAA tournament
and remain in the fourth place slot overall. The Knights ended up the season
with a 20-17 record over-all and a 7-7 league mark. Calvin closed out the
season reaching the 20-win plateau for the first time since 1998 and making the
MIAA tournemant for the first time since 1999.
Alma went to work early, as the Scots came up with three runs in the top of the
first inning on a three-run homerun blast by senior Julie Wiest. In the bottom
half of the inning, sophomore Keri Cole (Mason County Eastern) started things
off for the Knights with a one-out single down the right-field line. Calvin
freshman Laurel Sands (Rockford) then advanced Cole to second with a two-out
single up the middle and senior Susannah Knust (Grandville) brought Cole home
with a single down the left-field line to give the Knights their only run of the
game. Alma was able to extend its lead in the top of the fourth inning when
Schmuckal took a two-out pitch deep to right center for a triple and was brought
home on a Carson double to right to increase the lead to 4-1. In the top of the
sixth inning, the Scots gained some more breathing room with another three-run
shot, this time by S. Smith. Freshman Rachelle Heyboer (Fremont) went the
distance on the mound for the Knights, giving up seven runs on 12 hits. Heyboer
struck out two Scots and walked one batter in seven innings of workand finishes
the season with a 11-9 record. On the offensive side, the Knights came up with
eight hits of off Alma starter Paula Stanford, who improved to 7-3 on the year.
Both Sands and Knust came up with multiple-hit performances, as Sands was 2-3 on
the day and Knust was 2-3 with an RBI. Also gathering singles for the Knights
were sophomores Trisha Balkema (Highland, IN) and Cole and senior Joanne Haven
(Dorchester, ON) and junior Emily Mejeur (Kalamazoo Christian).
Alma then continued on to defeat Hope twice to capture the MIAA Tournament
title, defeating the Flying Dutch 4-2 and 7-3. Combined with its first place
finish in the MIAA regular season standings, Alma takes first place in the final
league standings and gains the MIAA's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament
next week.
Final MIAA Softball Standings
1. Alma
2. Hope
3. Albion
4. Calvin
5. Adrian
6. Kalamazoo
7. St. Mary's
8. Olivet
BASEBALL
Calvin welcomed the Sienna Heights Saints today in a non-conference match up.
The Knights came out victorious 7-0 to boost their record to 24-10.
Calvin scored twice in the bottom of the first on hits by junior Arie Eppinga
and senior tri-captain Ben Dykhouse to gain the lead 2-0. Calvin continued
scoring in the bottom of the fourth when it doubled their lead and run total on
hits by freshmen Josh Vriesman and Kyle Neher. Calvin finished the scoring in
the seventh when it scored their final three runs on a two RBI double by senior
Mike Noorman and an RBI double by Eppinga to extend its lead to 7-0. Noorman,
Eppinga, and Neher each had two hit games for the Knights while Noorman and
Eppinga earned two RBIs each.
Senior tri-captain Mike Ott started at the mound and pitched three innings
giving up two hits and no walks. Senior Andy Miedema, who pitched three innings
with three strikeouts, earned the win in relief of Ott to improve his season
record to 6-1 on the year. Miedema was replaced by freshman Jim Deters who
pitched the final three innings yielding three hits and two strikeouts.
Calvin's final line included seven runs on eight hits and no errors. The
Saints finished with no runs on five hits and six errors. The Knights will be
back in action tomorrow when they travel to face Spring Arbor for a
non-conference doubleheader scheduled to begin at 1:00 pm.
OTHER MIAA BASEBALL SCORES Friday
Albion 9, Adrian 4
Hope 10, Alma 0
Olivet 11, Kalamazoo 1
MIAA BASEBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 5-3 GAMES
Hope 13-0
Calvin 13-2
Adrian 9-9
Alma 5-8
Olivet 4-9
Kalamazoo 3-10
Albion 3-12
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Fri May 03 2002 - 20:15:45 EDT