The #14 Aquinas softball team hit the road to play its first games in 10 days against Lawrence Tech in Livonia, Michigan for a WHAC doubleheader. The Saints took both games by the scores of 12-5 and 4-2 for the sweep over the Blue Devils. AQ improves its record to 27-5 (7-1 WHAC) on the season as LTU drops to 6-28 (3-11 WHAC) this year.
GAME 1: Aquinas 12, Lawrence Tech 5
The Saints got going early, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the first half inning.
Izzy Dawson brought in
Courtney Hardin on an RBI single for the first run of the game and later scored the second run on a wild pitch. The third run came on a bases loaded walk with
Halee Holman drawing the walk and
Jordan Humitz scoring. The Blue Devils got one run back in the same inning to make the score 3-1.
Aquinas kept the pressure on in the second inning with four more runs, the first coming as
Kaelyn Stafford bounced into a fielder's choice and Hardin scored.
Darrien Roberts followed that up with a triple to left field that plated
Leah Vaughan and Stafford.
Carson Hendrickson was able to then bring in Roberts on a single through the left side.
The lead grew to 10-1 in the third with another three runs scoring for AQ. Dawson brought in her second and third RBI in the game on a single to right center field with
Emma Houseman and Hardin rounding the bases. Humitz ended up grounding out in the next at bat, but still collected an RBI with Vaughan scoring.
Lawrence Tech cut into the deficit with two RBI groundouts in the third inning to have the scoreboard read 10-3 in favor of Aquinas. Another run crossed the plate for the Saints in the fourth inning with Holman singling in
Breanne Adamczak.
Starting in the circle for AQ was
Leah Ash (11-2) who gained the win after pitching four innings and allowing three runs on five hits, while striking out five.
The final run for the Saints was scored in the fifth inning as
Ashley Snyder lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Dawson. The Blue Devils got another two runs to cross the plate in the fifth inning on a single and a double to make the final score 12-5.
Nina Bennett followed Ash at the beginning of the fifth inning and made it one and a third innings, while surrendering two runs on six hits with one strikeout.
Grace Maguire finished the final one and two-thirds innings by only allowing two hits and picking up two strikeouts.
Dawson became the ninth player in AQ history to collect 200 career hits in game one after going 2-3 with two walks and three RBI. This is the first time that someone has gained 200 hits since AQ Hall of Famer Ashley Aspinall did it in 2009. Hardin drew four walks in the game and scored three times, while Roberts was 1-1 with two walks and an RBI.
GAME 2: Aquinas 4, Lawrence Tech 2
The second game of the doubleheader was taken over by the pitching staffs as only six runs were scored compared to the 17 in game one. The Saints scored all four runs in the first, third, and fourth innings of play to go up 4-0. Humitz rocketed a double out to right center field to plate Hardin in the first.
In the third, two sacrifice flys by Dawson and Snyder brought in Hardin and Vaughan to score for the 3-0 lead. Hardin topped off her big day at the plate with a solo homerun in the fourth for her team-leading sixth of the season.
Kayla Fessenden (10-2) went the distance, giving up a run in the fifth and seventh innings as one of them were unearned. Fessenden had LTU off balance all game as she only allowed four hits and two walks, while striking out 10.
Hardin drew another two walks in game two and also collected two hits and an RBI. Vaughan also had a multi-hit game as Dawson, Humitz, and Snyder drove in the other three runs.
Aquinas is back in action on Thursday (Apr. 21) with a doubleheader against Rochester in Byron Center, Michigan with the first pitch scheduled for 3:00 PM.
