EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Western Michigan softball team lost its non-conference matchup at Michigan State Wednesday, 4-3. Rissa Bajusz, Haleigh Smith, and Taylor Garey led the Brown and Gold with one hit each in the loss. In the circle, Jensen Gremillion tied a game-high five strikeouts. 

After a one-two-three first inning offensively, the Broncos bounced back and took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second: Riley Chumbley would reach first after striking out on a wild pitch, and Smith followed by reaching first off of a Michigan State error defensively. Eventually, Garey walked to load the bases and with two outs, Caitlin Tighe walked as well and scored pinch runner Emily Yacapraro. 

Later, in the bottom of the third, MSU tied the game at one all and the Broncos responded in the top of the fourth inning with a run of their own, to take a 2-1 advantage over the Spartans. To open the fourth, Gabbie Evans walked and Smith hit a sacrifice bunt to advance pinch runner Megan Malartsik to second base. Following up Smith's sacrifice bunt, Taylor Wolfe would help the Broncos retake the lead by grounding out to shortstop. During the play, MSU committed a defensive error and Garey advanced to second, while Malartsik scored. 

Despite WMU's one-run lead, MSU responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth and one run in the bottom of the sixth, to take a 4-2 lead over the Brown and Gold. Down to their last three outs in the top of the seventh, senior Rissa Bajusz pinch hit and led off the inning with a single to center field to jumpstart the Bronco offense. Following Bajusz's hit, Tighe would sub in as the baserunner and advanced to second after a sacrifice bunt by Payton Kelly. During Kelly's sacrifice, she reached first due to an MSU error, and the Broncos saw themselves with two on and nobody out. 

Later in the inning, with Addison Hudson up to the plate, she would successfully hit a sacrifice bunt, which advanced Kelly to second and Tighe to third for the Brown and Gold's first out of the inning. The softball team would eventually score their third run of the game after Riley Dittmar flew out to left field. During the play, Tighe scored in the process to cut the MSU lead to one. With the Broncos down to their last out and trailing by one, Kelly put herself in prime scoring position after stealing third base on a wild pitch. However, before the Brown and Gold managed to score Kelly, the Broncos would record three outs offensively to conclude the game.  

Up Next 

The Brown and Gold will begin a three game weekend series at Kent State on Saturday, April 13 with a doubleheader. Game one will take place at 1:00 PM and game two will follow at 3:00 PM.