DETROIT, Mich- The University of Michigan- Dearborn women's softball team (13-10, 3-3) welcomed Lourdes University (5-17, 0-6) to Wayne State on Thursday afternoon (Apr. 6) for a pair of Wolverine home games. Dearborn would own the day with two wins against the visiting Gray Wolves.
Game One
The Wolverines exploded for eleven hits in the first game, winning 9-1 in five innings. Olivia Scott started the scoring with an RBI single in the bottom of the second. Aspen Starr scored on the hit for the 1-0 lead. The Wolverines added another run in the bottom of the third when a sacrifice fly from Lanie Ellinger scored Amber Cheplick.
Lourdes scored their lone run in the top of the fourth on an Abby Cantrell RBI single.
Dearborn broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth when two Lourdes errors combined with hot hitting by the Wolverines led to a four-run flurry that ballooned the lead to 6-1 for the home team. Three more runs for the Wolverines in the bottom of the fifth ended the game by rule.
Senior right-hander Sydni Uhlenberg (5-3) had another solid outing to earn her fifth win, surrendering one run on five hits, a walk, and four strikeouts.
Game Two
Lanie Ellinger (4-4) started in the circle for Dearborn in game two. The senior right-hander was a force to start the game- until the top of the fifth when Gray Wolves' hitter, Emily Wallace, launched one over the left field fence. Lourdes would add another run later in the inning to take a 2-1 lead.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Wolverines took the lead back when the Gray Wolves committed three fielding errors on the first three hitters. Then, with two baserunners already on, Aspen Starr struck out swinging but reached first base on a throwing error by the Lourdes' catcher. The error allowed two runs to score, and the Wolverines regained the lead without a single hit. Dearborn would add an insurance run on an RBI single from Olivia Scott that scored Aspen Starr from third.
In the top of the sixth, Ellinger returned to her dominant form, giving up no runs in the final two innings, despite a lead-off double in the top of the seventh, to secure the complete game victory.
Next up
Dearborn faces Rochester in a doubleheader Saturday (Apr. 8) at Detroit Country Day in Beverly Hills, Mich. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
