CKSR (Women's Lacrosse Captures MIAA Tournament Title / Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Kalamazoo - Clinches Share of Fourth Place)

CALVIN KNIGHT SPORTS REPORT FOR MAY 6, 2017

Women's Lacrosse Captures MIAA Tournament Title;
Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Kalamazoo - Clinches Share of Fourth Place

WOMEN'S LACROSSE
Calvin 15, Hope 0

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Calvin women's lacrosse team won its second-straight MIAA Tournament title on Saturday afternoon. The Knights defeated arch-rival Hope for the second time this season with a 15-0 shutout victory. This is the first time in program history that the Knights have won the MIAA Regular Season title and MIAA Tournament title in the same season. The 15-0 victory is the first shutout in MIAA Women's Lacrosse Tournament history. With the victory, Calvin improves to 12-5 on the year and winners of its last 11 games. Calvin earned the MIAA Regular Season title with a perfect 8-0 record in MIAA play. Hope finishes the season with a 9-7 record, the most wins in program history. The Knights claim the automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament with the win and will find out their next opponent on Sunday night.
"We came out strong and knew how we wanted to play," said Calvin head coach Blake Boehm. "It was just whether we could play the way we wanted and we did. We executed our game plan pretty well. (The shutout) It is a tribute to the full team effort. That happening in the MIAA Tournament is just icing on the cake. A win is a win, but that is a full team effort from one side of the field to the other. It is special to win at home, the perks are the players can sleep in their own bed and stay in a routine in our locker room."
Calvin was coming off a 15-4 victory over Albion in the MIAA Tournament semifinal round. Hope upset Saint Mary's on Wednesday 12-11, with a goal in the final minute of play to advance to the finals. The Knights won round one of 'The Rivalry' at Zuidema Field in April, 16-4.
The Knights jumped on the Flying Dutch early on Saturday. Sophomore Emma Tilma (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) scored two minutes into the game from an on-target pass from sophomore Kelly Pepper (Wyckoff, N.J./Indian Hills).
Pepper scored two minutes later off a free position shot.
At the 24:07 mark of the first half, junior Amanda Davio (Okemos, Mich./Okemos) found the back of the net, with Kelly Pepper getting an assist.
Eight minutes in, freshman Emma Verrett (Beaver, Pa./Beaver County Christian) scored her first goal of the game, with Pepper receiving her third assist of the game. Pepper would then score her second goal of the game 19 seconds later.
The Knights wasted no time adding more goals. At the 15:06 mark of the first half, Emma Tilma snuck the ball past the Hope keeper to make it a 6-0 game. The Knights caught the Dutch sleeping and added another goal 10 seconds later to make it 7-0, off the stick of Kelly Pepper.
Emma Tilma notched her third goal of the day at the 13:26 mark of the first half. Amanda Davio earned the assist.
Davio would then score a goal of her own with 8:27 left in the first half on a free position shot.
Senior Emily Cefaratti (Hinsdale, Ill./Hinsdale Central) scored the final two goals of the first half to give the Knights an 11-0 lead, heading into halftime.
Cefaratti started the scoring in the second half at the 28:18 mark.
Freshman Jaimie Van De Burg (Lowell, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) scored her lone goal of the day with a little over 25 minutes remaining in the game.
With under 10 minutes remaining, Emma Verrett ripped one past the Hope goalie to make it 14-0.
Junior Emma Hall (Harare, Zimbabwe/Chisipite Senior School) recorded the final goal of the game, up a player after a Hope yellow card. Sophomore Grace Einfeld (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian) assisted on the play.
The Calvin defense was rock solid on Saturday. The Knights only allowed eight shots on the day. Sophomore Ellis Chalfant (St. Louis, Mo./Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School) was up to the challenge and stopped all three shots that came her way.
Yellow was a popular color on Saturday, with seven yellow cards handed out. Five Hope players earned the yellow card honor with Amanda Davio picking up two for Calvin.
Senior Alexandria Watts (Union, Mich./Edwardsburg) of Hope had 12 saves on 27 shots.
"They're well-coached, and they have great athletes," said Hope head coach Kim Vincent. "They have put it together. They really work well together. Their stick skills are superior to what we can do."
Calvin outshot Hope on Saturday, 34-8.
Junior Emily Deane (Rochester Hills, Mich./Rochester Adams) led Hope with three shots on Saturday.
Emily Cefaratti, Emma Tilma, and Kelly Pepper all finished with three goals. The three assists for Pepper ties her career high.
The Knights won 14 of the 16 draw controls against the Flying Dutch. Junior Madeline Baas led all players with eight.
The shutout was the third shutout in program history for Calvin, with all three coming in 2017. This was the second time that Hope has been shutout in program history, the first time was in 2013 in the third game in program history at Shenandoah. Calvin has ended the season for Hope the last two seasons.

BASEBALL
Calvin 3, Kalamazoo 2
Kalamazoo 9, Calvin 3

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Calvin split a doubleheader at Kalamazoo on Saturday and assured itself at least a share of fourth place in the final MIAA regular season standings.

With tiebreaker edges with Trine and Alma, the Knights also have an inside track for next week's four-team MIAA Tournament. The MIAA Tournament field will officially be announced Sunday night after the conclusion of conference doubleheaders involving Albion and Trine and Alma and Olivet.

In Saturday's opener, sophomore Jonathan Keane (Brookfield, Wisc./Brookfield Central HS) reeled off his third consecutive win as a starting pitcher, tossing shutout ball through six innings and then slamming the door on a Hornet comeback bid in the bottom of the seventh.

Keane gave up three singles in the first but did not allow a run. He was staked to an early 1-0 lead on a solo home run to right off the bat of junior Nate DeZwaan (Hamilton, Mich./Holland Christian HS).

Keane did not allow a hit over next five innings to keep the Knights in front. Calvin (19-21 overall, 13-15 MIAA) scored two insurance runs in the top of the seventh as sophomore Beau Redfield (Cedar Springs, Mich./Northpointe Christian HS) delivered an RBI double and junior Johnny Salgado (Whittier, Ca./Whittier HS) lashed an RBI single to plate Redfield.

Kalamazoo (28-12 overall, 20-8 MIAA) used a walk, two hits and a passed ball in the bottom of the seventh to close to within a run at 3-2 but Keane closed out the game with a double-play ball turned by Salgado at short and DeZwaan at second.

Keane (4-4) struck out four batters and walked only one while scattering five hits.

In game two, Calvin scored three runs in the top of the fifth to take a 3-0 lead. Junior Kyle Houts (Spring Lake, Mich./Spring Lake HS) stole home on a double steal with sophomore Miles Kuperus (Grand Rapids, Mich./Grand Rapids Christian HS) swiping second on the play. Senior Colton Wolfe (Eaton Rapids, Mich./Eaton Rapids HS) belted a two-run homer to right two batters later. The home run was the seventh of the season for Wolfe including the 26th of his collegiate career.

Kalamazoo scored two in the bottom of the fifth and six runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull ahead for the win.

Freshman Micah Berlage (Dexter, Mich./Dexter HS) took the loss for Calvin to dip to 0-2 on the year. Berlage was one of seven pitchers for Calvin in the game two loss.

Wolfe and freshman Logan Marshall (Plymouth, Mich./Salem HS) had two hits apiece for Calvin in the loss.

MIAA BASEBALL STANDINGS THROUGH 5-6-17

Adrian 23-5
Kalamazoo 20-8
Hope 17-11
Calvin 13-15
Alma 11-15
Trine 11-15
Albion 8-18
Olivet 5-21
Received on Sat May 6 23:20:07 2017