The Oakland Post

Pair of wins in debut

By Joe Guzman
Posted: Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 4:36 pm | Last Updated: Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 8:55 pm Comments Print This Email This Tweet This Delicious

The Oakland University women’s softball team (10-17, 4-4) swept a doubleheader against the University of Missouri-Kansas City (6-25, 1-10) on Saturday afternoon in their first home games of the season; defeating the Kangaroos 8-0 and 4-2.

The teams wore pink jerseys as the day was dedicated to beast cancer awareness. Coach Glenn MacDonald announced that he dedicated the games to his former sister-in-law, the late Julie MacDonald, who lost her battle with breast cancer in October 2007.

“I thought that it was only fitting to raise awareness for breast cancer since it has impacted my family and so many other families,” MacDonald said in a press release.

The early game ended after just five innings, as the Grizzlies scored four runs apeice in the third and fourth innings.  UMKC aided the Grizzlies, committing six errors in the game.

Centerfielder Stephanie Schall led off the third with a single, and promptly stole second base on pitcher Samantha Hurst’s first pitch to the next hitter.

Alyssa Deacon beat out a grounder, and second baseman Julie Owen followed with a bunt, which scored Schall.  Three more runners crossed home plate before the inning ended.

Oakland put the game out of reach in the fourth inning by capitalizing on three fielding errors by the Kangaroos.

Game two saw OU overcome an early  2-0 deficit, after UMKC scored one run in the first inning and another in the second. Oakland quickly responded with three runs of their own, to take the lead in the bottom half of the second inning.

With two out and the bases loaded, Deacon doubled to left center, allowing all three runners to score.

“Jessica [Granger] was superb and had command all day,” MacDonald said. “We had contributions from everybody on Saturday.”

The team’s ace pitcher started both games, giving up just two unearned runs off nine hits, while stiking out 10 batters in 10 total innings.

“We had to have these two wins today to keep any chance at fighting for a league title,” MacDonald said.