CSU women’s softball emerge undefeated against Purdue Fort Wayne – The Cauldron
Cleveland State took on Horizon League competitor Purdue Fort Wayne at Vikings Field in a trio of matches, one on Tuesday, April 9 and two on Wednesday, April 10.
Photo Credit: Cleveland State Athletics
Junior Melissa Holzopfel gave the Vikings an advantage right off the bat in the first inning, with a left field home run that would put the team up 2-0. Junior Sophie Spellman scored sophomore Peyton Mueller-Stenz in the second inning with an RBI double that would extend the Vikings lead 3-0.
However, Purdue Fort Wayne managed to score one run in the third inning that would put the score to 3-1. At the end of the fifth inning, CSU added on three more runs off of an RBI hit and a sacrifice fly to give the Vikings a 6-1 advantage.
Cleveland State closed out the match in walk-off fashion, with an additional three runs to end the game with a final score of 11-1.
Early on in the first inning for the first game on day two, Cleveland State senior Becky Hurosky singled home, scoring Junior Brooke Albaugh to give the vikings a 1-0 advantage.
In the bottom of the third, Junior Melissa Holzopfel got an RBI double that scored two runners on base, which was then followed by another RBU hit that would extend the lead 4-1. At the top of the seventh, the Mastodons scored off of two plate runs by an RBI double.
CSU senior Torrie Jenkins struck Purdue Fort Wayne out to bring the Vikings to a 4-3 victory.
As for game two on day two, with a slow two innings, Purdue Fort Wayne got the first point on the board with a RBI single. Cleveland State followed that with three runs off an RBI run from Junior Holzopfel and a home run from senior Becky Hurosky that would put the Vikings up 3-1 at the bottom of the third.
The Mastodons were able to score late in the seventh inning off a RBI groundout, but were retired to give Cleveland State a 3-2 win, sweeping the series.
Cleveland State softball is currently third in the Horizon League standings, with a conference record of 9-4 (.692) and an overall of 13-16 (.448).