CKSR (Baseball Splits Doubleheader With Trine/Softball Drops Twinbill With Concordia)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR MARCH 26, 2012

Baseball Splits Doubleheader With Trine;
Softball Drops Twinbill With Concordia

BASEBALL
By Andrew Knot
Calvin’s baseball squad took the first end of Monday’s doubleheader with a 7-2
victory over Trine.
Trine drew first blood in the top of the second when Matt Zurbriggen completed
a hit and run to bring the opening run across the plate.
The Knights responded immediately. Ben Cok led off the inning with a single
between the third basemen and the shortstop. After a couple errors, Cok had
reached third. In the next at-bat, Kyle Spoelma laced a double to right center,
which drove in two runs. Jack Jorgenson crossed the plate a batter later and
Grant Van Putten singled to bring in another run. At the conclusion of the
inning, Calvin had seized a 4-2 lead. The Knights extended that run by a lead
an inning later when Jorgenson singled to bring Cok home.
Trine would add another run in the fourth, but never threatened to contend
thanks in large part to the play of Calvin’s infield. The Knights scored their
seventh run in the sixth inning and held on to win by a score of 7-2. Overall,
the Knights turned four double plays on the afternoon. After the game, Manager
John Sparks noted his team’s defensive improvement.
“We challenged the infielders prior to the game to step up. They came through,”
said Sparks after the game.
Sophomore Jeffrey Victor was credited with the win. In six innings, he allowed
just eight hits and two earned runs.
The Knights lost the second half of Monday’s twinbill with Trine in the game’s
late stages.
The pitchers set the game’s tone in its early innings. Calvin Freshman Nate
Schepers was strong in the game’s first five innings and allowed only two hits
in his 5.1 innings stint.
Trine’s Braxton Siddons was effective in the first three innings, but Calvin
was able to crack him in the fourth. Jake Jorgenson got on base after a walk
and the Knight’s moved him to third base. Drew Vos’ then laid down a picture
perfect safety squeeze bunt to score Jorgenson. Grant Van Putten and Jake Van
Alten knocked singles to score runs. Calvin led 3-0 at the end of the fourth.
But Trine found an answer in the sixth. A series of walked and hit batters
loaded the bases and Calvin was unable to stop the Thunder run. At the end of
the inning, the Knights had conceded six runs.
From there, Calvin was unable to chip away at the deficit. The game ended by a
score of 6-3.
Jake Rightnowar got the win for the Thunder and Schepers drew a loss. After
splitting the two-game series, both Calvin and Trine claimed 7-7 records.

SOFTBALL
By Mark DeHaan
On a sun-filled Monday afternoon, Calvin hosted the Concordia University
Cardinals for its season home opener. The Knights entered the doubleheader at
5-7 on the year, while the Cardinals came in at 8-13. Concordia came out on top
in both games, winning 6-4 and 6-5.
The first two innings were rather uneventful, but in the top of the third,
Concordia struck first as a double in the left field gap from senior Erin
Dirobbio brought home senior Breanna King from first base, who had drawn a walk
to lead off the inning.
Calvin responded in the bottom of the third with a leadoff triple from
sophomore Danae Miedema. A pair of walks later, the Knights had the bases
loaded with just one out. Senior Marie Prins then hit a grounder to the third
basemen, who sent it to home to force an out, but an error by the catcher
allowed two runs to score, giving Calvin the 2-1 lead.
Concordia opened up the top of the fourth with a double in the left field gap.
A Calvin error at the next ball in play allowed a Cardinal run to score, tying
the game at 2-2. Concordia then took a one run lead on a fielder’s choice to
reclaim the one run advantage at 3-2.
In the fifth inning, the Cardinals extended their lead to two on an unearned
run as a double into left field brought home the runner from first base to make
the score 4-2 Concordia.
In the bottom of the inning, the Knights responded with a two-run home run the
first baseman Prins to tie the score at 4-4.
Once again responding to the Knights runs, the Cardinals loaded the bases with
two outs and brought in a run to take the 5-4 lead in the top of the sixth.
After an inning of three-up, three-down for the Calvin offense, Concordia
added a run in the top of the seventh to bring their advantage to 6-4.
In the bottom of the seventh, Calvin advanced runners to second and third with
two outs before a strikeout ended their hopes for a comeback as Concordia took
the first game, 6-4.
In the second game, Calvin started off with a strong first inning, especially
from sophomore Lina Avila, starting at pitcher. In the top of the first, Avila
would record all three outs, the first on a strikeout and the final two on
line-outs. In the bottom of the first, with a runner on second, Avila would
slap the first pitch she saw over the left field fence to give Calvin the early
2-0 lead. The home run was the sixth of the season for Avila.
Concordia grabbed a run back in the top of the third on a fielder’s choice as
a hit by senior Karen Greficz brought in run for the Cardinals.
In the bottom of the fourth, Avila gave herself two more insurance runs as she
belted her seventh home run of the season and second of the game to give the
Knights the 4-1 advantage.
In the top of the fifth, Concordia got all those runs back and one more as a
four-run inning by the Cardinals gave them a 5-4 lead.
Holding the Knights at bay, Concordia added an insurance run in the top of the
seventh to push their lead to 6-4 before Calvin’s final at bat.
With two outs in their final at bat, Calvin was able to load the bases when
Avila came up to bat. Avila, who had hit two home runs in the game, was walked,
cutting the Concordia lead to 6-5. The next Calvin batter struck-out swinging,
completing the Cardinal sweep of the doubleheader.
Avila led the Knights on the afternoon, going 4-for-7 with two home runs and
five RBI. Prins also hit well for Calvin, hitting 3-for-6 with a home run and
two RBI. Trista Browlee moves to 3-5 on the season from the circle, while Avila
is now 2-4.
“We’re just going to keep working hard and gear up for league play. I know
this team is capable of doing it, looking forward to keep working at it” said
Head Coach Sharon DeKleine. “Lina was awesome. Hitting, fielding, leading by
example – she just did a great job.”
The pair of losses drops Calvin to 5-9 on the season. The Knights now look
forward to Saturday when they will travel to Wheaton College to face both
Wheaton and University of Chicago in a triangular Saturday afternoon.
Received on Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:46:50 -0400