MELBOURNE, Fla. – A 10-run third inning in its opening game highlighted a dominant day for the Lakeland University softball team that included blowout wins over Wheaton (Ill.) College and Monmouth (Ill.) College Thursday at the Space Coast Spring Games.
The Muskies drilled Wheaton 19-2 in five innings in their first game and then dismissed Monmouth 10-0, also in five innings. Lakeland (5-3 overall) stretched its win streak to four straight games and is now 5-1 through six games of its spring break trip.
The Muskies were red hot at the plate in both games, scoring in seven of their nine innings at bat, and often in bunches. Six of those scoring innings included at least two runs, and four of them featured outbursts of four runs or more.
Lakeland quickly overcame a 2-0 deficit in the opener, scoring five runs in the second inning.
Kendyll Holub (
Jr.-Sturtevant, Wis.) hit a run-scoring single to get the Muskies and the board, and
Callie Linders (
Jr.-Griffith, Ind.) and
Abby Heitman (
Sr.-St. Francis, Wis.) both hit two-run triples to make it 5-2.
Lakeland then blew the game wide open in the third inning by scoring 10 runs, sending 15 hitters to the plate. The Muskies notched seven hits and also took advantage of four Wheaton (3-5 overall) errors in the inning. Holub hit a two-run double,
Maddie Raske (
Jr.-Tinley Park, Ill.) and
Kaylee Hunt (
So.-St. Paul Park, Minn.) both delivered run-scoring hits, and
Carlie Morrow (
Sr.-Menasha, Wis.) went 2-for-2 in the inning including an RBI single.
The Muskies even added on two more runs in both the fourth and fifth innings.
Grace Portenier (
Sr.-Sheboygan, Wis.) and
Mackenzie Ondrejcak (
Jr.-Aurora, Ill.) both singled and
Madelyn Abler (
Fr.-Random Lake, Wis.) hit a double down the left field line to score both in the fourth, and Abler added an RBI single in the fifth inning to score Linders.
Holub and Linders both finished with three hits each, with Holub going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored and Linders going 3-for-5 with three runs scored and two RBIs. Pitchers
Addison Dierschow (
Fr.-Sycamore, Ill.),
Lily Pettit (
So.-Rewey, Wis.) and
Aubrey Kueper (
So.-Jackson, Wis.) combined to limit the Thunder two seven hits and two runs, with Pettit earning the win with 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.
The second game featured more offensive fireworks, with the Muskies scoring five times in the bottom of the first and four more times in the second.
McKenzie Staudinger (
Jr.-Manitowoc, Wis.) opened the scoring with a two-run double in the bottom of the first and Morrow and
Sam Marchant (
Jr.-Green Bay, Wis.) both added RBI singles.in the opening frame.
Sydney Meyer (
Sr.-Crown Point, Ind.) then hit an RBI triple in the second, Heitman and Staudinger hit RBI singles and
Reyna Rupnow (
Jr.-Ixonia, Wis.) added a sacrifice fly. Lakeland added one more run in the bottom of the third with Meyer hitting a single to drive in Marchant and make it 10-0.
That was more than enough cushion for
Natalie Ziebell (
So.-New Holstein, Wis.), who pitched her second straight shutout, holding the Fighting Scots (3-9 overall) to just one hit over five innings. Ziebell struck out two and walked three, and only a single by Maddie Hepner with two outs in the fourth kept her from a five-inning no-hitter.
Lakeland is back on the field early Friday morning to face Fitchburg State (Mass.) University at 9 a.m. Central time, 10 a.m. Eastern in Florida. The Muskies then will take on Franciscan (Ohio) University at 1:30 p.m. Central, 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
