KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan softball team continued to roll after defeating Central Michigan University with 3-1 and 4-1 victories in Saturday's doubleheader. In game one, Payton Kelly led all players with two hits, while Kelly, Rissa Bajusz, and Kailey O'Connor tied a game high two hits in game two.  

Game One

During the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, the senior pitcher Bajusz notched a single hitter en route to the Bronco's first victory of the day. Offensively, the Brown and Gold continued their attack in game one after scoring in the first inning against CMU. In the bottom of the first frame, Riley Dittmar led off the offense with a double and Kelly singled with one out to propel the Brown and Gold to a 1-0 advantage.    

Later in the fourth inning, Bajusz homered to drive herself and Megan Malartsik in to give the Brown and Gold a 3-1 lead. With her home run in the fourth, Bajusz has now hit two home runs in her last three games played. In the circle, Bajusz performed phenomenally by limiting CMU to a single hit after recording 12 strikeouts. With her 12 punchouts in game one, the senior matched her career high in the strikeout column.  

After CMU responded with their lone hit of game one, which resulted in a Chippewa run, the Broncos bounced back with a run in the bottom of the fourth and added one more in the bottom of the sixth inning. Over the final three innings, Bajusz held CMU to zero hits and concluded the contest with one hit allowed in the 3-1 victory Saturday.


Game Two

Following the game one win, the softball team closed out Saturday's doubleheader with a 4-1 win, for their seventh straight victory. WMU would strike first in game two in the bottom of the second inning after Megan Welsh flew out to center field and scored Bajusz to give the Broncos an early 1-0 lead. Although CMU responded in the top of the third to tie the game up at 1-1, the Brown and Gold continued to apply pressure and scored in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to take a commanding 3-1 lead. The softball team would score in the bottom of the third after Haley Boxwell reached on a fielder's choice, while Hudson reached home plate. Later, in the bottom of the fourth, Riley Chumbley grounded out to third. During the play, Malartsik scored on a throwing error by the CMU defense. 

The softball team would tack on their final run of the sixth with the help of back-to-back hits from Bajusz and O'Connor. With one out in the sixth, Taylor Garey flew out to center field and scored teammate pinch runner Emily Yacapraro for the Brown and Gold's last run of the afternoon. 

Historical Notes 

With their two wins over CMU today, the Brown and Gold have collected seven consecutive wins and are one victory from matching their longest win streak in over half a decade.  A win Sunday against the Chippewas would give the Broncos an eight game win streak, which would match their longest win streak since March 4, 2018 - March 11, 2018. 

Bajusz, now with 436 strikeouts on her resume, is 10 K's from passing Reily Galloway (2018-22) and claiming the third most career strikeouts in a Bronco Uniform. Over her last 28.4 innings pitched, the senior has accumulated 48 strikeouts.

Up Next

The Brown and Gold will conclude their weekend series versus CMU at Ebert Field tomorrow at 12:00 PM during their Cancer Awareness Charity Game.