GALESBURG, Ill. – Different day, but the same result.
After sweeping Knox College on Wednesday, the Grinnell College softball team repeated that feat against the Prairie Fire Thursday to extend their winning streak to four.
Grinnell had a huge offensive performance in the opener, ripping 20 hits in a 12-5 victory. The hit total ranks second in program history, while Grinnell's 40 at bats and 29 total bases each rank fourth.
Lizzy Vermeulen '24 and
Samantha Chu '24 each had four of the Pioneers' hits, totals that are tied for second-best in school history. Vermeulen also had four RBIs.
Grinnell (4-2, 4-2 Midwest Conference South Division) followed with a 5-3 win in the nightcap to extend their winning streak against Knox (2-16, 1-7 MWC South) to 12 games.
The Pioneers scored three runs in the top of the first inning of the opener and never looked back. Chu led off the scoring with an RBI triple,
Mary Webb '23 followed with an RBI groundout and Vermeulen plated a run with a single.
Knox cut into the lead in the second with a run before
Taylor Durak '24 got that back in the third with a home run, Grinnell's first of the season, for a 4-1 lead. The Pioneers kept it up in the fifth with four runs as Durak and Vermeulen each bashed two-run doubles.
Grinnell made it 11-1 in the sixth when Chu,
Emma Nelson '23 and Vermeulen all had RBI singles. After Knox scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth, Chu hit an RBI double in the seventh to complete the scoring.
Kathryn Vermeulen '24 earned the pitching win after tossing the final four innings.
Grinnell started quickly in the second game, too, scoring three times in the first inning when Chu hit a two-run double and
Emma DiGiacomo-Zahller '24 had an RBI single. Knox cut into the lead with two runs in the bottom of the first and tied it with a run in the third.
The Pioneers went up to stay in the fourth when
Alexa Okada '24 hit an RBI double, one of her three hits in the game, and
Leila Bishop-Parise '21 made it 5-3 with an RBI single in the sixth.
Christin Hartman '24 earned the pitching win in relief.
Grinnell has a big home weekend coming up by hosting Cornell College on Saturday and Monmouth College Sunday. Both doubleheaders begin at 1 p.m.
