KENT, Ohio -- The Western Michigan softball team dropped both games of a doubleheader on Saturday at Kent State. The hosts captured the first game in five innings, 9-0, before taking the night cap by a score of 9-5.
The teams return to the Diamond at Dix in Kent, Ohio, on Sunday, May 16, to conclude the 2021 season. First pitch is set for Noon ET.
| Game One
Kaylen Glenfield and
Sophia Ehlers collected hits for the Broncos in the first game of the day, while
Jordyn Swinehart reached on a walk and
Mackenzie Swinehart was hit by a pitch.
Autumn Godwin turned in two solid innings of relief work, allowing one hit and one earned run with two strikeouts.Â
Carlee Selle homered for Kent State, while Megan Turner doubled and had three RBI. Kaitlyn Miller doubled and scored twice while Alexis Taube doubled and drove in a pair of runs. Jessica LeBeau threw all five innings for Kent State, limiting WMU to two hits with four strikeouts.
Kent State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Turner doubled in two runs before Taube doubled home Turner and Whitt singled to score Taube. The Golden Flashes pushed the lead to 7-0 in the second, taking advantage of a defensive miscue by WMU and RBI groundouts from Turner and Taube. Selle capped the scoring with a two-run homer in the fifth.
| Game Two
Ehlers, Glenfield and
Sydney Stefanick all had multi-hit games for WMU, while Ehlers and Stefanick also drove in a run each.
Rissa Bajusz hit a three-run homer and walked. Bajusz also threw 5.2 innings of relief work, allowing just two earned runs with a pair of strikeouts.
Taube homered for Kent State, while Selle hit a pair of doubles. Taube drove in three while Miller, Whitt and Selle all drove in a pair of runs. Whitt finished 3-for-4 and Selle was 3-for-3. Gabbie Sherman picked-up the victory, going four innings without allowing an earned run. LeBeau recorded her fourth save of the season with three shutout innings to end the game.
The Golden Flashes again jumped out to an early lead, this time scoring five in the first. Miller singled home a run before Taube's three-run homer. Selle doubled home the final run of the inning.
Western Michigan did not go quietly, as the Broncos got an RBI single from Ehlers in the second and Stefanick hit a sacrifice fly in the third to cut it to 5-2.
Kent State pushed the lead back to five thanks to Selle's RBI double in the third and Miller's RBI single in the fourth.
Bajusz cut the deficit to two runs, 7-5, with a three-run homer in the fifth, but that would be as close as the Broncos could get. Kent State a pair of insurance runs on a two-run single by Whitt in the sixth, providing the final margin of 9-5.
| On Deck
Western Michigan and Kent State conclude the 2021 season on Sunday, May 15, at Noon ET. There is no Mid-American Conference tournament this year; regular season champion Miami has earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
