MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Edgewood College softball team scored the most runs in a single game in just over five years Saturday morning in an 18-2 win over Northland to begin the Finlandia University Dome Tournament and then fell in a tight 5-3 contest to 2015 NCAA Tournament participant Simpson College. Freshman first baseman Jordan Anderson was a single away from the cycle in the win over Northland while junior shortstop Kylie Clark went a combined 6-for-8 on the day.
Edgewood College wasted no time getting on the board to start the 2016 season, as Sabrina Maicke had an RBI single and Jordan Anderson tripled in Maicke one at-bat later. The floodgates would open one inning later, as the Eagles tacked on nine runs on eight hits in the second inning alone.
Freshman catcher Sabrina Luedtke started the marathon inning with an RBI single while fellow freshman Sydney Cramer knocked in two on a single to right field one batter later. Jordan Anderson stepped up again and provided the other big hit in the inning on a two-RBI double that knocked in Maicke and Clark to put the Eagles up 7-0.
One inning later, Clark scored on a wild pitch right before Jordan Anderson and Jackie Diesch hit back-to-back home runs. Anderson's was a two-run round-tripper while Diesch followed to give Edgewood College its first back-to-back home runs this decade.
Kylie Clark added an RBI single in the fourth while Maicke rounded out the scoring with a double that knocked in a pair in the fourth. Karlie Klossner picked up the win after allowing just two hits over three innings. Freshman Courtney Leuzinger pitched the final two.
Clark and Maicke were each 4-for-4 at the plate, while Maicke finished second on the team in RBIs with three. Anderson was 3-for-4 with five RBIs in her first collegiate game while Cramer and Luedtke also finished with multi-hit games.
Rachel DeJongh and Simpson's Abbie VanVleet were in a pitcher's duel in game two. Freshman Alyssa Hickey smacked her first career collegiate home run for the game's first run in the bottom of the third to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. Simpson would score two unearned runs in the fourth to take the lead.
Maicke would score on an error in the bottom half of the inning before Simpson picked up two more unearned runs in the top half of the fifth. After Simpson recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth, the Storm picked up an RBI groundout in the sixth to make it 5-2.
DeJongh helped her own cause with an RBI single to right in the sixth to bring it back to a two-run game but the Eagles managed only one baserunner in the final inning.
Clark, Anderson and Diesch all finished with two hits in the nightcap while DeJongh and Hickey provided the lone RBIs for the Eagles in the game. DeJongh wound up allowing six hits over five innings and all four runs she surrendered were unearned. Shannon Whitmus pitched the final two innings and allowed one hit and one earned run.
The Eagles will conclude the Finlandia Dome Tournament with games against Lake Superior State at 7 am (CT) and Finlandia University at 11 am (CT) on Sunday.
