CKSR (Calvin Knight Spring Sports Recap for March 21, 2017)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPRING SPORTS RECAP FOR MARCH 21, 2017

SOFTBALL

CLERMONT, Fla. - The Calvin softball team dropped a pair of tough contests on Tuesday afternoon under the Florida sun. The Knights fell in extras to No. 19 Wisconsin-Whitewater, 11-9, and closed the day with a 12-4 loss to Bowdoin. Calvin is now 6-4 on the year.
Wisconsin-Whitewater struck first on Tuesday with a single through the left side of the infield that scored Mallory Klotz.
The Calvin offense started strong on Tuesday with a five-run first inning against the Warhawks. Junior Jessica Brasser (Rockford, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) scored sophomore Anna Gernant (West Des Moines, Iowa/Valley) with a double. Freshman Kayla Groen (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way East) then doubled down the leftfield line to score Jessica Brasser and junior Kaley Frank (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg). Sophomore Kristen Newman (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea) blasted her first homerun of her career at Calvin with a shot that cleared the centerfield fence.
Sophomore Maddie DeGroot (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) added to the Calvin lead with a homerun over the centerfield fence in the third inning.
The Warhawks would not go away and would cut the Calvin lead to 6-5 in the fourth inning. The Calvin defense held tough in the fourth to keep the lead. Kayla Groen kept the Knights ahead with a diving catch over the centerfield fence to keep the Knights ahead.
Calvin would push the lead back up to three in the bottom of the fourth inning when Maddie DeGroot hit her second homerun of the game over the leftfield fence.
UW-Whitewater took the lead with another four spot in the fifth inning to lead, 9-8.
Kayla Groen tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning with a homerun over the leftfield fence.
The Calvin defense kept UW-Whitewater over the scoreboard the next two innings to force extra innings. The Warhawks were able to get two runs across home plate in the eighth inning with the international tiebreaker rule to secure the 11-9 victory and improve to 7-1 on the year.
"Our team fought hard against a quality Whitewater program," said Calvin head coach Becky Hilgert. "We had a few mental and defensive lapses in the middle innings which proved costly. I was impressed with the aggressiveness of our offense and our ability to adjust at the plate against three different pitchers. It was an intense game and unfortunately we came up a little short."
Anna Gernant threw all eight innings and recorded eight strikeouts.
Sophomore Casey Lawler (Novi, Mich./Novi) finished with a game-high three hits. Kayla Groen and Maddie DeGroot both had three RBI.
The Polar Bears of Bowdoin proved to be too much for the Knights in game two.
Bowdoin got onto the scoreboard in the second inning with a two-run homerun.
Calvin responded with a four-run third inning. Sophomore Rachel Borden (Edwardsburg, Mich./Edwardsburg) hit a single to right field to score Casey Lawler. Jessica Brasser and Kaley Frank both had shots to the outfield to score junior Kimiko Hinastsu (Romeo, Mich./Romeo) and Maddie DeGroot. Anna Gernant scored the final run of the day with an infield single that scored Rachel Borden.
Senior Paige Groom (Potterville, Mich./Potterville) had two strikeouts on only one walk in the loss.
Maddie DeGroot and Rachel Borden both notched two hits against the Polar Bears.
"We had to rebound fast both mentally and physically after a tough loss," said Hilgert. "Bowdoin is a very good hitting team and we weren't able to string much together offensively after getting leadoff runners on. I thought Paige was much sharper on the mound and worked hard to try to keep their hitters off balance."
The Knights will have a day off before they return to action again on Thursday against Union and Colby.

WOMEN'S TENNIS
ORLANDO, Fla. - The Calvin women's tennis team improved to 5-3 on the year with a pair of victories in Florida on Tuesday. The Knights started the day with a 6-3 victory over Grinnell and closed the day with an 8-1 victory over Lawrence.
"We had two nice matches today," said Calvin head coach Kevin Van Haitsma. "We had a tough match yesterday against Luther and we rebounded well against two good teams in Grinnell and Lawrence. We are looking forward to a day off tomorrow and then getting back at it Thursday."
Senior Liz Turner (Audobon, Pa./Delaware County Christian) and junior Lark Foote (Okemos, Mich.) got the Knights on the scoreboard against Grinnell with an 8-4 victory at No. 2 doubles.
Junior Jessica Bouma (Kalamazoo, Mich./Kalamazoo Christian) and junior Micaela Seazzu (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia) picked up a pivotal victory at No. 3 doubles over Hamilton and Daneshdoost of Grinnell, 9-8 (5).
Grinnell would take a 3-2 lead with victories at No. 1 and No. 2 singles.
Junior Kari Kroeze (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) would tie the match at three with a 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 6 singles.
Freshman Anna Asfour (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) gave the Knights the lead with a victory at No. 5 singles, defeating Brenda Guan, 6-3, 6-2.
Jessica Bouma earned the match-clinching point at No. 3 singles, downing Anushka Joshi, 3-6, 6-3, 10-5.
Michaela Seazzu closed the match at No. 4 singles, beating Lily Hamilton, 6-0, 6-3.
The Knights started the second match of the day picking up two points in doubles play. At No. 2 doubles, Jessica Bouma and Michaela Seazzu won, 8-2. Another 8-2 victory was earned by Anna Asfour and Kari Kroeze at No. 3 doubles.
Senior Claire Spoelhof (Holland, Mich./Holland Christian) edged Katie Frankel at No. 1 singles, 7-5, 6-4.
Jessica Bouma downed Lindsay Holsen at No. 2 singles, 4-6, 4-1, due to retirement.
Senior Ellie Benzel (San Dimas, Calif./San Dimas) earned a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Elana Lambert at No. 3 singles.
At No. 4 singles, Micaela Seazzu bounced Annie Harincar, 6-1, 6-3.
Lark Foote cruised at No. 5 singles over El Goblirsch, 6-3, 6-0.
At No. 6 singles, Liz Turner was victorious over Katie Nottberg, 6-1, 6-3.
The Knights return to the courts on Thursday against St. Catherine.

MEN'S TENNIS

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Calvin men's tennis team improved to 8-1 on the year with a 7-2 victory over Lawrence on Tuesday. Lawrence falls to 4-6 on the season.
"I am happy with how we played today," said Calvin head coach John Ross. "Today was a good team win. It was good to bounce back from a tough match yesterday. It will be nice to have an off day tomorrow before we get back to work on Thursday."
Freshman Rodrigo Castellanos Vaca Guzman (Tarija, Bolivia/Felipe Palazon) and junior David Brown (Lake Zurich, Ill./Lake Zurich) picked swept No. 2 doubles, 8-0
Senior Anthony Vroon (Grand Rapids, Mich./South Christian) and sophomore Jason Wolters (Hudsonville, Mich./Unity Christian) won a thriller at No. 3 doubles, 8-7.
Rodrigo Castellanos Vaca Guzman won at No. 1 singles over David Jumes, 7-5, 6-3.
Matt VanWinkle recorded a three-set victory at No. 3 singles, 6-7 (6), 6-2, 10-7.
At No. 4 singles, Taylor Asfour downed Cade Fancour, 6-1, 6-1.
Junior Jason Wolters (St. Joseph, Mich./St. Joseph) topped Aidan Delgado at No. 5 singles, 6-2, 6-4.
Anthony Vroon was victorious at No. 6 singles over Izaya Turenne, 6-0, 6-2.
The Knights return to action on Thursday in Orlando, Florida, against Grinnell.

MEN'S GOLF

SEVEN LAKES, NC - The Calvin men's golf team took first place at the Pinehurst Invitational on Tuesday with a team score of 312 strokes. The Knights finished eight strokes ahead of Kalamazoo while North Central (Il.) was third and Benedictine University (Il.) fourth.

Junior John Van Noord (Troy, Mich./Oakland Christian HS) tied for second place individually with a score of 75. Sophomore Sam Kuiper (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) and freshman Josh Song (Diamond Bar, Ca./Diamond Bar HS) tied for fourth with rounds of 78.

Junior Ben VanScoyk (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) was next with a round of 81 while junior Mathew Lumbantoruan (Jakarta, Indonesia/Morningstar Academy) had a score of 82.

Competing individually, sophomore Mitchell Knoor (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) also had a round of 79.

Lincoln Slagel of North Central was the tournament medalist with a round of 73.

"It was great to get a chance to compete at the start of our spring season," said Calvin men's golf coach Brian Bolt. "We certainly have some rust from the winter, but the guys worked through it and gave a solid overall performance. We obviously have workd to do but it's a good start."

Calvin is back in action on April 3 and 4 when it competes at the Broadmoor Invite in Indianapolis.

PINEHURST INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES

Calvin 312
Kalamazoo 320
North Central 340
Benedictine 343

WOMEN'S GOLF

CHAMPIONS GATE, Fla. - After one day of competition, the Calvin women's golf team is in third place at the Carthage College Florida Invitational.

Calvin posted a team score of 366 strokes on Tuesday. Carthage leads the tournament at 313 while Hope is second at 327.

Sophomore Nicole VanderYacht (Kentwood, Mich./South Christian HS) tied for sixth individually with a score of 83. Freshman Jessica Zylstra (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northpointe Christian HS) had a standout afternoon, ripping off a round of 89 that was good for a tie for ninth place.

Sophomore Grace Bolt (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) had a 93. Senior Katherine Ryan (Haslett, Mich./Haslett HS) had a 98. Sophomore Katy Hamilton (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Catholic Central HS) carded a score of 104 while senior Amira Bousaab (Grand Rapids, Mich./Northpointe Christian HS) had a 109.

Calvin is back on action on Wednesday when it completes competition at the 36-hole tournament.
Received on Wed Mar 22 08:54:07 2017