KENT, Ohio -- Logan Carter homered twice, but the Western Michigan softball team dropped an extra-inning affair at Kent State on Friday night, 8-7, to open a four-game, season-ending series.
Carter joined
Sydney Stefanick as the only player in program history to post two games with multiple home runs in the same season. Carter also homered twice against Ball State on May 8. Stefanick accomplished the feat in the 2019 season.
Carter finished 3-for-5 with four RBI and two runs scored.
Jordyn Swinehart was 1-for-4 with two RBI, while
Courtney Farrish knocked in a run.
Reily Galloway went 3-for-4 at the plate while taking a no-decision in the circle. Galloway allowed three earned runs and struck out three in 4.1 innings of work. Stefanick took the loss, conceding just the game-winning run in the eighth inning after three innings of action.
Carlee Selle hit a three-run homer for Kent State, while Kennadie Goth and Julia Mazanec each had two-hit games. Kaitlyn Miller drove in a pair and scored twice.Gabbie Sherman got the win, allowing five earned runs in 5.2 innings of work. Morgan Bowers worked 2.1 innings and allowed two earned runs.
Western Michigan jumped out to a 4-0 lead thanks to Carter. She hit a two-run homer in the first before delivering a solo shot in the third. She then singled in a run in the fourth to make it 4-0.
The four-run lead did not last long, as Kent State tied it with a four-run fourth inning. Brooklyn Whitt's sacrifice fly got the Golden Flashes on the board before Selle's three-run bomb tied the game.
The Broncos responded in the fifth when
Jordyn Swinehart singled to score
Taylor Garey and Stefanick, giving the visitors a 6-4 lead. Kent State again punched back, taking a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a two-run double by Miller and an RBI single by Megan Turner.
WMU forced extras thanks to
Courtney Farrish singling to score
Rissa Bajusz in the top of the seventh, while Stefanick worked around a one-out single in the bottom half to keep the game tied. The Broncos went three-up, three-down in the eighth before Kent State used a bunt single, walk and infield single to win the game, 8-7.
The teams return to action with a doubleheader on Saturday, May 15, starting at 1 p.m. ET.
