KALAMAZOO, Mich. -- Courntey Farrish tripled, scored and had an RBI, but the Western Michigan softball team dropped the series opener to Akron, 7-2, on Friday afternoon at Ebert Field.

Farrish was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI, while Jordyn Swinehart joined her with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3. Taylor Garey walked twice and scored, while Alyssa Kramer was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Autumn Godwin battled in the circle, taking the loss while allowing just one earned run in 7.0 innings with seven strikeouts.

Samantha Mailk, Alantis Taufa, and Laurel DeVoe all had two-hit games for Akron. Devoe added two RBI, as did Olivia Stefanoni. Olivia Otani was outstanding in relief, picking up the victory by holding WMU to two hits over the final 4.2 innings.

WMU jumped out to a 2-0 lead thanks to single runs in the second and third. The second saw Farrish triple before she scored on an RBI single by Kramer. In the third, Farrish singled to score Garey.

Akron used a seven-run fifth to decide the game. Malik opeend with an RBI double before Kalli MacIntosh-Houlder reached on an error, scoring a run. DeVoe and Stefanoni followed with two-run singles to make it 6-2. Sheridon Wilber closed the scoring with an RBI groundout, providing the final margin of 7-2.

Otani took it from there, holding WMU off the scoreboard for the final 4.2 innings.

| On Deck

The teams return to Ebert Field for a doubleheader on Saturday, May 1, starting at 1 p.m. ET. Both games can be heard live on WMUBroncos.com.