CALEDONIA, Mich. – The Panthers took on one of the other top teams in the GLIAC, Purdue Northwest, and came away with two huge victories. Davenport swept the Pride, winning 4-2 in game one and 3-2 in game two. Game two went into extra innings and a walk-off single by
Rachel Griffin scored
Lauren French to give DU the sweep.
Mallory Teunissen and
Taylor Simon, along with the rest of the DU defense, kept the Pride at bay, only allowing four runs over the two games. The two wins give the Panthers a big lead over the rest of the field in the GLIAC standings, with just Grand Valley State ahead of them at the moment.
Game 1-Tuesday, April 16 at 3:30 p.m.
Final Score: Davenport University-4 | Purdue Northwest-2
Location: Caledonia, Mich.
Records: DU (22-16, 14-7) | PNW (20-13, 11-8)
Inside The Box
French (2-3, R, 2 RBI, BB, 2B, HR)
Abby Merice (1-3, R, BB)
Mariah Cura (1-1, RBI, 2BB, 2B, SB)
Kennedy Crawford (1-3, R)
Jorden Urban (1-3, R, 2B)
Teunissen (W, 13-5) 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO
The Panthers wasted no time getting on the board in game one, scoring a run in the first and second inning. In the first inning, Cura doubled to left center, scoring Merice and giving DU a 1-0 lead. In the second inning,
Gabby Palazzolo singled through the right side, scoring Crawford. Teunissen threw three scoreless innings to open the game. The Pride scored their first run in the top of the fourth, cutting the DU lead down to 2-1. Davenport responded with a run by Urban in the bottom half of the inning off a double by French. Purdue Northwest hit a solo homer in the sixth to bring the score back to within one. French decided to give Davenport a larger lead by hitting a solo home run of her own to right field. Teunissen retired the side in the seventh to secure the game one win.
Game 2-Tuesday, April 16 at 5:30 p.m.
Final Score: Davenport University-3 | Purdue Northwest-2
Location: Caledonia, Mich.
Records: DU (23-16, 15-7) | PNW (20-14, 11-9)
Inside The Box
French (1-3, 2 R, RBI, HR, HBP)
Griffin (3-4, RBI, 2B)
Cura (1-2, R, SH)
Simon (W, 3-2) 8 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO
Purdue Northwest took the early lead in game, flipping the script from game one. The Pride hit a two-run homer in the top of the first to take a 2-0 lead. A Crawford groundout to second base scored Cura from third and cut the Pride lead down to one run. The defense was solid for both teams in innings three, four and five, as no one scored. Davenport got the game-tying run off a solo home run by French to right center, her second time going yard in the doubleheader. Neither team scored in the seventh and the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs, and runners on first and second, Griffin stepped up to the plate. The sophomore blasted a hard shot up the middle and French came all the way home from second for the game-winning run!
Up Next
Davenport looks to continue their winning ways as they host Ferris State for their final doubleheader of the 2019 season tomorrow. The first game will start at 3:30 p.m. at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex.
Story by:
Devin Steiner
Picture credit: Chris duMond