GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Davenport softball team faced Lourdes on Friday evening in the conference finale for the Panthers. Davenport was able to sweep the Gray Wolves, taking game one, 9-0, in five innings, and DU completed the sweep with a 7-3 come from behind win in game two. The Panthers will face non-conference foe, Saint Xavier (Ill.) on Saturday at the Farmers Insurance Athletic at 1 p.m. in the final game of the regular season.
 
The Panthers are currently in a first place tie atop the WHAC standings with Madonna. Davenport has a record of 15-3 in the WHAC, while the Crusaders are 14-2 in the conference. Madonna still has two more games to play as they face Michigan-Dearborn on the road Saturday afternoon.
 
Game 1 – Davenport 9, Lourdes 0 (5 innings)
In the first game of the doubleheader on Friday afternoon, the game started as a stalemate with neither team getting on the board in the first two innings, but the Panthers exploded in the top half of the third inning scoring eight runs on the three hits in the inning.
 
Alyssa Koziol scored the first run of the running as KC Dunne drove her on a fielding error from the Gray Wolves shortstop, then Alyssa Eastman was able to drive in Dunne with a double down left field line to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. DU was able to score three more unearned runs, and Koziol, who started off the third inning, was able to hit a three-run homerun to center field to cap off the eight run inning and give the Panthers an 8-0 lead.
 
Dunne concluded the scoring in the game for Davenport with a single up the middle to score Hayley Obetts to give the Panthers a 9-0 lead. Emily Maves (21-3) pitched all five innings allowing just two hits and striking out nine Gray Wolves, in the 9-0 win.
 
Game 2 – Davenport 7, Lourdes 3
Lourdes started the game strong out of the gates, as they scored two runs in their half of the first inning, but the Panthers came right back the next half inning, as Ashleigh Blovsky shot a base hit to left field to score Eastman for the Panthers first run of game two.
 
Leading 2-1 heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Gray Wolves were able to regain a two run lead after Cory Fallwell singled to second base to score Drew Lepiarz. However, the Davenport offense woke up in the final three innings to score the final six runs in the game.
 
In the fifth inning, Sarah Schneidenbach drove in McKenzie Rowe with a single and Schneidenbach score later in the inning on passed ball to tie the game, 3-3, after the top of the fifth inning. Haley Obetts gave Davenport their first lead of the game after a single to right field that drove in Carli SanMillan in the sixth inning. Davenport capped of the game as Paige Sant'Angelo singled to score Schneidenbach, while Eastman, who got the win in the circle, singled to score Sant'Angelo and Dunne, as DU went on to beat Lourdes, 7-3.
 
Davenport has now concluded their 2015 WHAC regular season schedule and will host Saint Xavier (Ill.) on Saturday for a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex starting at 1 p.m.
 
Softball Contact: Rick Hoskin | 616-871-6180 | rhoskin@davenport.edu
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