GRINNELL, Iowa – After letting one slip away in the opener of Sunday's doubleheader with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the Grinnell College softball team came back with a vengeance.
The Pioneers erupted for season highs in hits with 15 and runs scored in a 12-7 victory over the Pointers at the Softball Complex. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Pioneers as they improved to 3-15.
Darice Wheeler '21 had three hits and five RBIs, one shy of the school record, to join the three-hit performances by teammates
Leila Bishop-Parise '21 and
Maddie Matsubara '22. Wheeler had a homer among her totals, boosting her Pioneer program-leading career total to 22, while Matsubara and
Mya Davis '21 each had doubles. Davis had two hits in the game, as did
Megan Gardner '20.
Elle Adams '22 pitched a steady game for Grinnell, giving up nine hits and striking out five in six innings of work.
The Pioneers jumped on top 4-0 as Wheeler grounded out to push across a run in the first,
Haley Hoffman '21 scored on an error in the second, Wheeler added a sacrifice fly to right in the second and Bishop-Parise stole home in the same frame.
UW-Stevens Point tied the game in the third before
Ashley Wehrenberg '19 drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to put the Pioneers up 5-4. The Pointers scored in the fifth to force another tie, but after that it was all Grinnell.
The Pioneers put together four runs in the fifth as Matsubara ripped a two-run double to left, Wheeler hit an RBI single to left and later scored on an error following a stolen base.
In the sixth, Wheeler bashed a two-run homer over the center field fence and Gardner sent an RBI single up the middle. UW-Stevens Point, 12-10 on the season, scored twice in the seventh before pitcher
Maddie Draper '22 shut the door.
In the opener, Matsubara cracked her first collegiate home run, Wehrenberg hit two singles and Bishop-Parise and Wheeler each doubled.
Each team scored in the second inning, with Grinnell's run coming on
Sidney Litke's '19 RBI single up the middle. Grinnell went up 2-1 in the third on Davis' sacrifice fly to right.
The Pointers made it 2-2 in the fourth, but Matsubara put Grinnell up 3-2 in the fifth with a homer over the left field fence. The Pointers responded with three runs in the sixth before Grinnell got within a run on Davis' RBI single to center in the seventh.
Wheeler threw 5-1/3 innings in the game and was the pitcher of record, giving up six hits.
Grinnell's career top 10 list saw plenty of movement during the day. Wheeler now ranks fifth in sacrifice flies with three, seventh in total bases with 163 and 10th in walks with 32. Davis is tied with Wheeler for fifth for sacrifice flies and Wehrenberg ranks sixth in walks with 41.
Grinnell is back at it Wednesday with two games at Simpson College, beginning at 5 p.m.
