CSR (Calvin Sports Report for April 10, 2010)

CALVIN SPORTS REPORT FOR APRIL 10, 2010
 
Softball Splits With Albion;
Baseball Takes Two at Albion;
Men's Tennis Defeats Wooster at GLCA Tourney
Women's Tennis Defeats Adrian
 
SOFTBALL
Albion 1, Calvin 0 (10 innings)
Calvin 5, Albion 4
 
(written by sports information student assistant Derek Neice)
 
On a warm and sunny April afternoon, Calvin’s softball team came out Saturday
to compete in a pair of conference games against the Albion Britons. The teams
split the doubleheader as Albion squeaked out a 1-0 win in 10 innings in the
first game, and Calvin finally got the offense going in game two as it won by a
score of 5-4.
 
The first of the two games was a marathon to say the least and perhaps one of
the best pitchers duels that Calvin has been in so far this season. Freshman
pitcher Shelby Mast went head to head against Albion freshman pitcher Emily
Carlson, and both pitchers went into extra innings holding the other team
scoreless through seven. The Britons pulled out the win in ten innings,
winning by a score of 1-0.
 
“It was a great pitching duel and battle,” said Calvin first-year coach Sharon
De Kleine of game one. “It was a fantastic game and we were really only one
hit away from winning so I was really happy with how she [Mast] pitched and how
our team performed together.”
 
Both pitchers went through the entirety of the ten inning game with Mast
giving up the lone unearned run off of two hits. Mast came into the day with a
2.55 earned run average and a 5-5 record and she struck out eight while
allowing two hits and two walks. Albion’s Carlson earned the win and complete
game shutout, giving up two hits while walking one and picking up a whopping
eleven strikeouts.
 
Carlson did not allow a hit until the eighth inning and improved her record to
4-9 on the year with the win.
 
Calvin’s best opportunity to win the game came in the bottom of the eighth
when senior second baseman Mandy Johnson led off the inning with a standup
double to deep left field. Johnson’s double broke up Carlson’s no hitter, and
after a bunt moved her to third base, the winning run was 60 feet away from
home plate. Calvin’s next two batters struck out however and the game moved
into extra frames.
 
In the tenth inning, with the game still knotted at 0-0 and both pitchers
showing no signs of slowing down. In that inning the international run rule
came into effect, allowing both teams to start the inning with a runner already
on second base. The premise for this rule is to generate some offense, and it
certainly worked as Albion moved its runner over on a sac bunt, and then got a
double from Carlson to score the runner and take the lead.
Calvin similarly moved its runner to third on a sac bunt in the bottom half,
but a foul-out and subsequent strikeout quickly ended the game.
 
Game two saw the offense of the Knights get much more of a jumpstart. Albion
started freshman pitcher Adriane Kline against Mast, who took the ball for both
games, and the Knights opened the game with three runs in the top of the
first.
 
Calvin took advantage of a couple of infield errors by Albion and added a pair
of hits and a walk, scoring three quick runs to take an early lead.
 
The Knights added a couple more runs in the fourth as sophomore Kim
VandenAkker and senior Whisper Miller singled and then scored on a consecutive
single by sophomore first baseman Marie Prins. That two RBI hit made it 5-0
Calvin.
 
“It was great to start out right away after that first game,” said De Kleine
of game two. “They battled back and stuck with it and it made a big
difference.”
 
“It was great the way the kids hung in there together,” she continued. “It
was nice to come out with the win.”
 
Going into the seventh, Albion made things really interesting as it scored all
four of its runs in that final frame, all with two outs. Kolling started with
a double to left center and then scored on an error. A walk and another error
loaded the bases, and then a double to right center by Alyssa Castillo brought
the Britons within one with the tying run on second. Mast then came back into
the game and got Carlson to fly out to center and end the game.
 
Kline took the loss for Albion as she dropped to 0-3 on the year. Mast did
not take long to even her record again after that first game as she picked up
her sixth win of the year, moving to 6-6 overall.
 
Kline went seven innings and gave up five runs, two earned, on nine hits and
two walks while striking out one. Mast went four and a third innings before
being replaced by Mandy Johnson on the mound, giving up only three hits and two
walks while striking out four. Johnson went two and two thirds innings, giving
up four unearned runs in the seventh off of three hits and two walks while
striking out two.
 
The split gave Albion its first conference victory of the season as its
improved to 1-9 in the league. Calvin now has a 2-4 MIAA record and a 6-7
overall record.
 
The next action for the Calvin softball team will be a make-up doubleheader at
home against Hope on Monday April 12.
 
“Hope will be a big challenge,” said De Kleine of Monday’s games. “They’ll be
tough but we can battle with them.”
 
Those games are set to begin at 3:30 p.m.
 
 
 
BASEBALL
Calvin 8, Albion 3
Calvin 4, Albion 1
 
ALBION - Calvin bounced back with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday to salvage
a split of a four-game weekend series with Albion. On Friday, Calvin suffered a
pair of defeats to Albion at home but on Saturday, the Knights rode the strong
arms of junior righthanders Jeff Groenewold (Chicago, IL) and Keith Spoelstra
(Oakland, NJ) for a pair of road wins.
 
In game one on Saturday, Groenewold went the distance in pitching the Knights
to an 8-3 victory. In game two, Spoelstra tossed a complete-game three-hitter
in helping the Knights record a 4-1 win.
 
In the opener, Groenewold shut out the host Britons (10-13 overall, 6-6 MIAA)
for the first six innings, allowing just three hits over the first six frames.
Calvin (7-13 overall, 4-8 MIAA) gave Groenewold plenty of run support, scoring
a run in the first on an RBI single by junior Andrew Bosma (Holland Christian
HS) and four runs in the the third aided by two Albion errors. Calvin then
added two additional unearned runs in the fourth and added another run in the
sixth on another RBI single by Bosma to stake Groenewold to an 8-0 lead.
 
Albion countered with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the seventh but
the rally proved to be too little too late as Groenewold gained his first
victory of the year, striking out five batters without a walk.
 
In game two, Spoelstra was dominant, running his season record to 3-2.
Spoelstra allowed only two baserunners over the final four innings of play with
Albion scoring its only run in the bottom of the first inning that gave the
Britons a brief 1-0 lead. Calvin scored two runs in the third with sophomore
Tyler Berger (Grand Rapids Christian HS) collecting a key RBI double. In the
fourth, Calvin plated across two more runs on a two-run RBI single by senior
Kyle Gurzynski (Ludington HS) that scored sophomore Jake Van Alten (Holland
Christian HS) and junior Matt Dodrill (Murfreesboro, TN).
 
Bosma collected two more hits in the game two win to raise his season batting
average to .393. Gurzysnki also raised his season batting average to .369 and
his conference batting average to .400.
 
Calvin returns to action next Thursday when it travels to Kalamazoo for a
doubleheader scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.
 
MIAA BASEBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 4-10-10 GAMES
 
Hope 9-1
Adrian 10-2
Trine 7-5
Albion 6-6
Alma 5-5
Calvin 4-8
Kalamazoo 4-8
Olivet 1-11
 
MEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 7, Wooster 2
 
GRANVILLE, OH -- Calvin closed out play at the GLCA Tournament Saturday
morning with a 7-2 victory over the College of Wooster to run its season record
to 9-6. Calvin recorded a 2-1 record at the GLCA Tourney, defeating Ohio
Wesleyan and Wooster while falling to eventual tournament champion Carnegie
Mellon.
 
In the win over the College of Wooster, Calvin rolled out to a 3-0 lead with
victories in all three doubles flights. Junior Roland Eldridge (Charlotte, NC)
and freshman Preston Phillips (Bexley, OH) were winners at No. 1 doubles while
sophomore Brian DeMaagd (Calvin Christian HS) and senior Andrew Rescorla
(Zionsville, IN) won at No. 2 doubles and junior Andrew DeVlieger (Northpointe
Christian HS) and sophomore Jon Goorhouse (Holland Christian HS) won at No. 3
doubles.
 
In singles play, Phillips was a winner at No. 2 singles while Eldridge won at
No. 4 singles, DeMaagd at No 5. singles and freshman Philip Reinken (Morton,
IL) at No. 6 singles.
 
Calvin returns to action on Tuesday when it travels to Alma at 4 p.m.
 
Calvin/Wooster Box Score:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/mens/tennis/results/2010/cal-woo.htm
GLCA Tournament Site: http://athletics.kenyon.edu/x34806.xml
 
WOMEN'S TENNIS
Calvin 9, Adrian 0
 
Calvin improved to 12-2 overall and 5-0 in MIAA competition with a 9-0 win
over visiting Adrian Saturday afternoon at the Strikwerda Tennis Courts.
Winners for Calvin in singles play were junior Melissa Oosterhouse (Grand
Rapids Christian HS), junior Kaitlin Spoelhof (Holland Christian HS), senior
Elisabeth Geenen (Holland Christian HS), senior Rachel Strikwerda (Holland
Christian HS), junior Michelle Busscher (Western Michigan Christian HS) and
senior Rachel DeGroot (Lombard, IL).
 
In doubles Oosterhouse and Spoelhof were winners at No. 1 doubles, senior Jill
VanVeen (Grand Rapids Christian HS) and Strikwerda winners at No. 2 doubles and
DeGroot and Geenen winners at No. 3 doubles.
 
Calvin returns to action next Tuesday when it travels to regionally-ranked
Kalamazoo for a key conference match at 4 p.m.
 
Calvin/Adrian Women's Tennis Box Score:
http://www.calvin.edu/sports/womens/tennis/results/2010/cwadrian.htm
 
MIAA WOMEN'S TENNIS STANDINGS THROUGH 4-10-10 MATCHES
 
Calvin 5-0
Albion 3-1
Hope 3-1
Kalamazoo 3-1
Saint Mary's 2-1
Olivet 1-3
Alma 1-5
Adrian 0-3
Trine 0-3
Received on Sat Apr 10 23:10:36 2010