CALEDONIA, Mich. - Ellie Muilenburg struck out a career high 16 batters in the nightcap against Cedarville, the third-highest total in program history, as Davenport won 6-2 to salvage the Saturday split. The Yellow Jackets were victorious in game one by a score of 5-2. Next up for DU is the beginning of league play as the Panthers will host Purdue Northwest in a week with game one of the doubleheader set to begin at 1 p.m.
Muilenburg (3-5) punched out those 16 batters (most by a Panther in over six years) to just three walks on 120 pitches with two earned runs allowed on only three hits. The senior right-hander has now struck out 10 or more batters in a single game eight times in her career, all since the beginning of last season.
Offensively, Davenport's first four runs came via the long ball as
Alexis Koza (fourth inning) and
Rachel Griffin (fifth inning) both went deep with a two-run homerun. Also in the fifth frame, the Panthers made it 5-0 when
Rylie Kalina scored on a wild pitch. Following Cedarville hitting a two-run blast of its own in the sixth, Davenport's
Gabby Palazzolo also scored on a wild pitch in the home half of that inning to make it 6-2.
In game one, the script was flipped as the visitors scored the game's first five runs and held that 5-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth. Then in DU's half of the sixth,
Riley Hasseld singled in
Brooke Bernt before
Lindsay Goodman singled in
Emma Miller in the bottom of the seventh. However, that's where the Panthers' push ended as the next batter,
Emma Embry, flew out to right field to end it.
In the circle, Miller (5-3) gave up five earned runs on 10 hits with no free passes and six strikeouts through 90 pitches. That outing, Miller's eighth, marked the southpaw's first of the season in which she gave up more than two earned runs.
Story by:
Cooper Weidenthaler
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