CALEDONIA, Mich. - Playing at home for the first time in nearly two years, the Davenport softball team hosted Purdue Northwest for a doubleheader on Friday afternoon at Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex. The Panthers were unable to come back from an early deficit in game one before falling by a score of 7-5, but rebounded for a 6-4 victory over the Pride in the nightcap.

Davenport is now 7-10 overall and 3-2 in the GLIAC with a trip to Parkside coming up on Saturday. On the other side, Purdue Northwest sits at 6-12 on the season and 3-4 in league play.

In game one on Friday, Purdue Northwest scored seven runs in the first five innings before Davenport could get on the board in the sixth and seventh frames. Mariah Cura got the scoring started for the Panthers with a two-run homerun to left field in the sixth that also scored Alexis Koza. The next inning, Gabby Palazzolo doubled in Rachel Griffin, Rylie Kalina singled in Palazzolo and Lindsay Goodman tripled in pinch-runner, Kenzie Wilkinson.

Trailing 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh and representing the game-tying run with Goodman at third, Koza grounded out to short to end it.

Ellie Muilenburg (4-5) suffered the loss, which marked the first time this season that she's come up on the short end in back-to-back outings. Muilenburg gave up seven runs, five earned, on seven hits in three and a third frames with two walks and four strikeouts. In relief, Taylor Simon handled her own with no runs and only two hits surrendered in three and two-thirds innings to go with one free pass and three punchouts.

In the rematch, it was Davenport that applied the pressure early on as the Panthers scored six runs before the Pride could bring in a run of their own. Once again, it was Cura that did the honors first as she hit her second blast of the day, this time a solo shot to left center in the second. Also in the second, part of Kaycee Loehr's career day (3-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 2 1B) came when she singled to center and scored fellow freshman, Anelise Worden.

In the third, Koza singled in Griffin before Palazzolo scored Jorden Urban with a base knock through the right side and Kalina forced in Palazzolo with a two-bagger to right center, both in the fourth inning. Purdue Northwest fought back with three runs in the fifth and another in the sixth, but could get no closer as Davenport held off the late charge.

For the second time in her career, but first time since her freshman season, Emma Miller (3-3) picked up the victory in back-to-back outings after winning at Wayne State on Sunday. Miller allowed three earned runs on five hits in five innings of work with one walk and one strikeout. Out of the bullpen, Simon earned the first save of her career with two innings of one-run ball, two hits allowed, one free pass and two punchouts.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler