Grand Rapids, Mich. – The AQ softball team played its home doubleheader today (Apr. 15) at Calvin University's Gainey Athletic Complex. Today, Aquinas honored its three seniors, Leah Ash, Taylor Charon, and Kayla Fessenden for Senior Day. AQ also took the opportunity in between games to host its annual Christy's Cause ceremony. The Saints presented junior Ashley Snyder with this year's Christy's Cause scholarship award.

Aquinas ended up splitting the two games today after dropping the first game 4-0 but coming back with a strong 10-2 victory in the second game.

The Saints move to 28-12 on the season with an 11-3 conference record. UNOH is now 24-15 overall with a 10-4 WHAC record. After today's result, Aquinas remains second in the WHAC standings with UNOH trailing by one game.
 
Game 1: UNOH 4, Aquinas 0

Senior Ash received the start for the Saints inside the circle to start game one and kept the Racers quiet in the top of the first with no hits. Izzy Dawson picked up a single in the bottom of the first, but that would be the only offensive action AQ would muster in the first with the score still 0-0.

UNOH got the scoring started in the second inning, beginning with two singles to put runners on second and third with two outs. The Racers started a two-out rally as they generated a walk, a single, and a double in succession to take a 3-0 lead.

A single and a triple for the Racers in the fourth inning gave the visitors a 4-0 lead. The University of Northwestern Ohio also continued to keep the Saints' offense quiet as AQ had only two hits heading into the sixth inning.

By the sixth inning, both pitchers had settled in and neither side managed a lot of offense. Kaelyn Stafford hit a bloop single to left field in the bottom of the seventh inning, but AQ failed to drive in a run.

The game ended 4-0 in favor of the visiting Racers.

Ash's record moves to 12-4 on the season. She gave up eight hits and four earned runs over seven innings pitched. She also had two walks and six strikeouts during her outing.

Dawson generated two of Aquinas' three hits with a double and a single in the first game.
 
Game 2: Aquinas 10, UNOH 2 (6 Innings)

The Racers were, once again, the first team to strike in the top of the first inning. Anna Ankney singled to left field to start the game and then advanced to second on a groundout. Ankney then advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored due to a throwing error to give UNOH an early advantage.

AQ's bats finally came to life in the bottom of the first inning. Courtney Hardin struck out to start the bottom of the frame but then Darrien Roberts towered a hit over the left-center wall to give Aquinas its first run of the day.

Dawson remained hot on the next at-bat and hit a single down the left-field line. Leah Vaughan followed that with a rip down the left field line to score Dawson and take a 2-1 lead.

Jessica Dobias got on base with one out due to a throwing error from the shortstop. Emma Houseman dropped down a perfect bunt on the ensuing at-bat to put runners on the corners with one out. Houseman then stole second, allowing Dobias to score and give AQ three runs.

Two batters later, Roberts picked up her second hit of the game with a single through the left side of the infield to advance Houseman to third. Aquinas did its steal second to advance the runner on third home play again and, once again, it was successful to put AQ ahead 4-1.

Ironically, UNOH used that same tactic to score its second run of the game in the top of the fifth inning. The Racers strung together a pair of singles to put runners on the corners. AQ caught the runner stealing second, but UNOH managed to score the runner on third to make the score 4-2.

Fessenden continued pitching into the sixth inning and retired the side to bring the Saints up to bat.

Haley Myers started a sixth-inning offensive explosion with a single into left field. Dobias pinch ran for Myers and immediately stole second base. On the next at-bat, Houseman dropped down another fantastic bunt single to put runners on the corners with no outs.

Houseman stole second base uncontested as the Racers had no interest in allowing Dobias to run home on the throw down to second base. Two batters later, Roberts kept her hit streak going with an RBI single into left field to score a run and, once again, put runners on the corners with one out. Dawson hit a sacrifice fly to center field on the ensuing at-bat to score Houseman on third and give AQ a 6-2 advantage with two outs.

Jaden Delchambre hit a single in hopes of starting a two-out rally. UNOH made a pitching change following the hit, but that didn't stop the rally. Vaughan walked as the new pitcher's first batter to load the bases. Kim Sosnowski was then walked with the bases loaded to give AQ seven runs.

On the subsequent at-bat, Stafford proceeded to end the game with a massive three-RBI double to right center to give Aquinas an eight-run lead. The 10-2 score gave the Saints a mercy victory in the bottom of the sixth.

Fessenden pitched well with a complete-game victory to give herself 10 wins on the season. She allowed just five hits and one earned run with one walk and four strikeouts.

Roberts had a great game at the dish for the Saints, batting 3-4 with a home run, two RBI, two runs, and a stolen base.

Houseman also put together a great game batting as she went a perfect 3-3 with two runs and two stolen bases.

In total, seven different batters contributed to AQ's 11 hits as a team.

Next up for Aquinas on the schedule is another home doubleheader on Wednesday (Apr. 19). AQ is set to take on the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils at 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM at the Gainey Athletic Complex.