(Game 1 Stats) (Game 2 Stats) Spring Arbor, MI — With over a week layoff since its last contests, the Goshen College softball team appeared well and ready to put a pair of harsh losses — the Leafs dropped 0-14 and 1-17 defeats to Indiana Wesleyan University last Monday (click here for related article) — behind them. Appearing on the competitive field for the first time since those losses, Goshen traveled to Mid-Central Conference foe Spring Arbor University with a higher degree of competitiveness: The Leafs narrowly dropped a 2-3, Game 1 decision before faltering late in a 4-12 Game 2 defeat.
“We are so, so close,” said Linda Bontrager, Goshen head coach. “We can be in each game that we play. We’re right there but we have come just short of winning. We must increase our intensity and focus. We need to learn how to take these close games and turn them into wins.”
Goshen (4-15, 1-9) looked the part of a seasoned squad early on in Tuesday’s contests, as even an early 2-0 Spring Arbor lead did little to faze Bontrager’s unit. Goshen responded with a pair of one-run innings in both the fourth and fifth stanzas, a sequence keyed by sophomore Amy Clem’s solo home run in the top of the fourth.
“Our hitting is certainly coming along,” Bontrager said. “We just need to be able to string a few hits together.”
Clem’s blast ignited an otherwise stale Goshen attack up to that point — the team had registered just two hits in its first three plate appearances — while the shortstop’s latest long ball was the fourth of the season. After having never hit a home run in competitive softball in her lifetime, Clem has now gone yard a total of five times this year — one of which is not included in the official record books after coming in an exhibition game against Indiana Tech on Mar. 24 (click here for article) — with two of those homers, including Tuesday’s, coming on the first pitch of her respective at-bat.
With the deficit cut in half, Clem’s teammates came up large in the fifth, when a lead-off single from freshman Diana Stanley eventually equated into the team’s second run scored. Stanley stretched her single into a three-bagger after advancing on a pair of wild throws from Spring Arbor defenders, eventually scoring off a sacrifice fly from classmate Jessica Carney.
With newfound life and the score tied 2-2, junior Tera Brackman (0-6) continued a dominant performance in the pitching circle. Through five complete innings of work, Brackman had allowed just two runs off of five hits, striking out two.
Spring Arbor’s two hits in the sixth inning, however, would come back to haunt.
A pair of doubles sandwiched a pair of groundouts, allowing the host Cougars to drive in the go-ahead run with two outs retired. Brackman was able to strike out the inning, but the damage had been done: Goshen went three and out in the top half of the seventh, dropping its fourth game of the season by two runs or less.
Clem’s homer led the way offensively, as the sophomore went 1-3 with a run scored an and RBI to her credit. Carney finished with an RBI as well, as Stanley and freshmen Heather FitzSimmons and Kathryn Schlabach each finished 1-3 as well.
With yet another heartbreaking defeat logged, Goshen could simply not keep up with Spring Arbor in the afternoon’s second game. After claiming a 1-0 lead after the top half of the second, Bontrager’s team allowed six runs in the next two innings, making a three-run final two-inning push a moot point.
A lead-off double from FitzSimmons helped put Goshen ahead early, as the freshman eventually scored following a single from sophomore Haly Williamson and Carney’s walk via a wild pitch.
Carney added the Leafs second run in the fifth stanza, as a near home run to deep right-center field was held in by the Cougars’ complex for a double. She scored off another SAU wild pitch.
The Leafs again got some offense churning in the sixth inning — with the game at a 7-4 score — but a five-run sixth inning from Spring Arbor concluded things permanently.
Williamson (1-4) suffered the pitching loss, going three and two-thirds innings while giving up eight runs off of 10 hits, only six of which were earned. Brackman came on in relief, going another two innings while allowing four runs off of three hits, three of which were earned.
Goshen chalked up a season-high 10 errors in the loss, greatly diffusing any chance of capturing a split on the road in MCC play.
“Obviously, errors are still plaguing this team,” Bontrager said. “Even with the lack of a large quantity of seniors, leadership is shining through. I’ve continued to see an improvement each game, and it’s a tight-knit group that is responding well through the adversity of this year. I’m continually encouraged by their progress and we hope to peak for the conference tournament.”
Carney, Williamson and Stanley all finished 1-3 from the plate in Game 2, with Carney scoring a run as well. FitzSimmons was 1-2 with a run scored, adding another double to go with Carney’s fifth-inning poke. Clem and Schlabach each went 1-3 as well, with both scoring runs.
After yet another bizarre, April snowstorm cancelled Goshen’s contest at St. Joseph’s College on Thursday, the Leafs will next face MCC foe Huntington University on Saturday. Game time for the first of two is set for 3 p.m. at Huntington.
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Freshman Jessica Carney