Lourdes opened the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference slate on Wednesday afternoon, dropping both ends of a doubleheader to the University of Michigan-Dearborn 7-0 and 2-1 in eight innings at Gray Wolf Field.
"It's unfortunate that we didn't split today," head coach
Caitlin Blanchard said afterwards. "We were outplayed in game number one, but in game number two we had a lot of missed opportunities.
Milena Applegate pitched a gem, and the opposing hitters had a hard time figuring her out. We had double digit hits, but we couldn't put any runs across the board in regulation. It is hard to win games when you leave multiple runners on base in multiple innings."
In the opener, the Wolverines took the lead with three runs in the second inning and maintained that lead until the seventh. Michigan-Dearborn added four more insurance tallies while Lanie Ellinger went the distance for the shutout.
Lourdes managed just three hits in the opener as Ellinger struck out nine in the complete game effort.
In game two,
Milena Applegate (Jerome, Mich./Lumen Christi H.S.) worked out of two early jams before keeping the Wolverines hitless from the third through the seventh innings.
The Gray Wolves loaded the bases in the third and the fifth, but came up empty both times, leaving 11 runners on base total in the game.
Michigan-Dearborn (11-5, 2-0 WHAC) hit a two-run home run in the eighth to take the lead. The Gray Wolves answered with a run in the bottom of the inning.
Brooke Albert (Edgewood, Ky./Dixie Heights H.S.) started the inning on second base with the international tie-breaker, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on a wild pitch.
Ella Leonard (Lorain, Ohio/Midview H.S.) singled and moved around to third, but was stranded to end the game.
Applegate allowed just one earned run while yielding five hits and striking out two. Ellinger came on in relief to earn her second win of the day, allowing the one unearned run while striking out five in 3.2 innings of work.
Lourdes (5-10, 0-2) takes to the road on Friday afternoon for a doubleheader at Cornerstone. First pitch in game one is set for 3:30 p.m. at the Cornerstone Softball Field in Grand Rapids, Mich.
