GRINNELL, Iowa – On a wonderful day for softball, the Grinnell College squad was equally wonderful.
Maggie Remus '18 fired a two-hit shutout in a 5-0 opening-game win over Beloit College Saturday afternoon on the team's 40th celebration of softball at Grinnell, and then the Pioneers erupted for a season-high 16 hits to complete the sweep at the Softball Complex with a 16-2 win.
Remus' pitching performance marked a career-low for hits allowed in a seven-inning outing. She struck out five batters while improving to 4-9 on the season.
Grinnell opened the scoring with two runs in the first inning on an RBI triple to right by
Kayla Morrissey '18 and sacrifice RBI by Remus.
The Pioneers added a run in the second on
Lydia Stariha's '17 RBI single through the right side and tallied two more runs in the fourth on
Sage Juveland's '17 run-scoring single through the left side and Remus' sacrifice fly to center.
In the second game, Grinnell had three hits each by Stariha, Remus and
Andi Leff '18 while scoring a season-high run total. The Pioneers got out quickly, scoring five runs in the first on an RBI infield single by Remus, three-run triple to left by Leff and RBI single to left by
Emily Jordan '19.
Beloit scored twice in the top of the second, but Grinnell countered with three runs in the bottom of the inning as
Megan Gibson '17 hit a two-run double to center and Leff plated another run with a single to right.
Grinnell tacked on three more runs in the third when Morrissey hit an RBI double to right, Stariha scored on a passed ball and Remus sent an RBI double to center.
The Pioneers closed out the scoring with five runs in the fourth.
Megan Gardner '20 had an RBI double to right-center,
Melissa Anderson '18 belted a run-scoring double to center, Stariha pushed across a run with a single to center, Juveland hit an RBI infield single and Gibson lifted a sacrifice fly to center.
Anderson was the winning pitcher, striking out four while improving to 6-7.
Grinnell's five doubles in the game rank second all-time for the program, while 15 RBIs and two triples rank third.
Morrissey moved up to seventh on the all-time runs list with 66 and eighth on the doubles chart with 20. Stariha is seventh in career triples with five and 10th in bases on balls with 28. Juveland ranks ninth in career RBIs with 47 and Leff is 10th with 44.
Pitching-wise, Anderson is now third for career wins with 20 and Remus 10th for innings pitched with 242-1/3.
As a team, Grinnell has 46 doubles this season which is just three shy of an all-time best. The team also has 11 triples, which ranks fifth, and Stariha has 86 assists which sits seventh.
Grinnell is now 6-6 in the Midwest Conference and 10-16 overall, while Beloit fell to 3-11 in the league and 6-26 overall.
The Pioneers entertain Ripon College Sunday on Senior Day. The first pitch of the twin bill is slated for 1 p.m.
