Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Behind the hot bat of sophomore Kristin Sclater (Taylor, MI/Kennedy) who hit two home runs, the Detroit Titans softball team split a doubleheader with a 4-2 win and 8-4 setback against visiting IPFW (7-10) in the home opener at Buysse Ballpark.
The win in game one, Detroit (4-16) snapped an eight game skid as Sclater led the Titans with her team-high third and fourth home runs while going 2-for-6 on the day with five RBI and two runs scored.
Sophomore Ellen Sinclair (Chatham, ON/Chatham-Kent) and junior Courtney Gill (Surrey, B.C./Earl Marriott) also each went 2-for-6 with a combined two runs scored and a RBI. Freshman Rachel Copple (Dearborn Heights, MI/Allen Park Cabrini) had a productive series going 2-for-5 with a run scored and a RBI.
In the circle, junior Jill Perry (Ortonville, MI/ Brandon) picked up her second win of the season going the distance allowing only two runs (one earned) on five hits with three strikeouts.
UDM jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Copple hit in junior Jessica Liebner (Ortonville, MI/Brandon) from second base with a single followed by a RBI double by sophomore Chelsea Lathrop (Colleyville, TX/Grapevine).
IPFW came right back in the top of the third with a two-out rally as two runs scored on a Cassie Wolfe single up the middle and Titan throwing error to tie the game at 2-2.
Detroit went back to work in the bottom half of the frame as Sclater hit her first home run over the right field fence to plate Sinclair giving the Titans a 4-2 lead.
Perry would maintain the lead over the final three innings to close out the win retiring nine of the last 11 IPFW batters.
Detroit got off to a rocky start in game two as IPFW jumped out to a commanding 8-0 lead getting three runs in the first and five in the second inning on eight hits and two Titan errors.
After not recording a hit over the first three innings, UDM finally broke through on IPFW pitcher Rachel Stachuk as senior Jacqueline Nortman (Groves, TX/Msgr. Kelly Catholic) reached on an error followed by a walk from junior Erica Houthoofd (Unionville, MI/Unionville Sebewaing Area). Sinclair then hit a single up the middle to score Nortman.
The Titans kept chipping away in the sixth inning as Sclater belted her second homer of the day, a three-run shot over the left field fence to cut the Mastodon lead to 8-4. Copple and Liebner followed with back-two-back singles to put runners at first and second base with only one out. However, Stachuk got the next two batters to strike out ending the threat and kept UDM off the board in the seventh inning to preserve the win.
The Titans travel to East Lansing, MI for a doubleheader against Michigan State on Wednesday, March 25 at 3 p.m.
