By Jared Tobaison
The Grand Rapids Community College Raiders softball team went 3-1 this weekend in games against Mid Michigan College and Alpena Community College bringing their record to 24-3. The Raiders played a double header on Friday, April 4 against Mid Michigan and double header on Sunday, April 6 against Alpena Community College. Their double header against Mid Michigan Community College on Saturday was postponed.
Game one
In the first game against Mid Michigan, the Raiders lost 1-7. The Raiders offense struggled throughout the entire game, only scoring one run in the third inning scored by freshman Kalani Stowe. The Raiders throughout the entirety of the game, recorded five hits and struck out 15 times. Freshman Grace Chisek and freshman Violet McWhinnie both had two hits and Stowe had one hit.
Game two
In game two, the Raiders got their revenge, winning 7-1 against Mid Michigan. The Raiders came out swinging, getting their first five batters on base. Stowe started it off with a base hit and later stole second. Two walks followed, then a base hit brought in the first run by sophomore Madison Miller to give them the lead 1-0. McWhinnie got in on the action, hitting a grand slam extending the score to 5-0. The Raiders recorded three straight outs to end the top of the first inning. The Raiders went on a scoring drought until the sixth and seventh inning scoring one run each. Stowe pitched a gem recording only one earned run on two hits coming in the bottom of the seventh inning. Stowe recorded 12 strikeouts and one walk, also went 3-4 from the plate.
Game three
In the Raiders first game on Sunday against Alpena, they came out on top 9-4. The offense started off slow for the Raiders with zero runs in the first two innings. Alpena scored a run in both the first and second inning giving them a 2-0 lead through two innings. In the third inning, the Raiders offense exploded, scoring five runs led by Stowe with an RBI double, Chisek had a two RBI double followed by a RBI double from McWhinnie and an RBI single from freshman Libby VanFleet, giving the Raiders a 5-2 lead at the end of the third inning. The offense continued to shine through the fourth and fifth innings scoring once in the fourth and three more times in the fifth. Stowe picked up her tenth win of the season, allowing three earned runs on seven hits and recording 10 strikeouts through seven innings.
Game four
In their last game of the weekend, the Raiders got off to a rough start getting into a 6-3 deficit after four innings stemming from a five-run second inning from Alpena. The Raiders scored a run in the first, third and fourth inning. They took the lead in the fifth with a four-run inning led off by a run from Chisek off an error, then an RBI single from freshman Lauren Wiley scoring VanFleet, and another run scored from third by Grace Salley off an error. Stowe finalized the scoring with an RBI single of her own, scoring Wiley and giving the Raiders the 7-6 lead. The Raiders scored one more run in the sixth inning extending the lead to two runs. VanFleet picked up her seventh win of the season, allowing six earned runs on nine hits and recording seven strikeouts through five innings. Freshman Natalee Beck picked up her first save of the season,recording a hitless final two innings and two strikeouts.
