ROCKFORD, Ill. – The Lakeland University softball team ripped Rockford University pitching in both games of a convincing doubleheader sweep Friday afternoon to open its Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference slate.
The Muskies defeated the Regents 13-6 in the first game of the twinbill and then were even hotter in the second game with a 19-3 win in five innings. The games were played Friday, one day earlier than originally scheduled due to anticipated wet weather on Saturday, and Lakeland won while playing for the first time since the end of its spring break trip to Florida two weeks earlier.
The Muskies (7-9 overall) hammered out 16 hits in each game and had multiple big innings in both games. Lakeland scored in nine of 12 innings over the two games, with the highlight a 10-run second inning in the second game.
Lakeland trailed 2-0 going into the third inning of the opener but then scored four times to take the lead. The Muskies then broke the game open late with three runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh.
Paige Chladek (
So.-Orland Park, Ill.) went 3-for-4 at the plate with three extra-base hits, including a pair of triples and a double, plus five runs batted in. She tripled in a run in the fourth, doubled in another in the sixth and then added a bases-clearing three-run triple in the seventh.
Meghan Etten (
Jr.-Elkhorn, Wis.) added three hits and three RBIs,
Calie Delisi (
Sr.-Oak Forest, Ill.) added two hits and drove in three and
Hailey Jester (
Sr.-Salem, Wis.) also had three hits and scored two runs.
Leah Binsfeld (
Fr.-Kaukauna, Wis.) pitched four innings and allowed five hits and one run with two strikeouts to earn the win, while
Taylor Bush (
Jr.-Waukesha, Wis.) pitched 2 2/3 innings and picked up the save.
Lakeland received contributions throughout the lineup in the second game, with 12 different players getting a hit, twelve more driving in a run and a total of 16 different players scoring at least one run. Fifteen players batted in the 10-run second inning and the Muskies scored in all five innings, building a 13-0 lead after 1 1/2 innings and cruising the rest of the way.
Niki Saviano (
So.-Orland Park, Ill.) drove in three runs and Chladek and
Madi Olson (
So.-Eau Claire, Wis.) both added two hits and two RBIs each. Jester and
Caitlin Fitzgerald (
So.-Chicago, Ill.) also added two hits and drove in one run each.
Lindsay Cudecki (
So.-Chicago, Ill.) started and allowed four hits and two unearned runs to get the win, with Saviano cleaning up in the fifth and allowing an unearned run.
The Muskies play their home opener on Monday when they welcome Milwaukee School of Engineering for a twinbill starting at 3 p.m.
