WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Playing in Florida for the final time this spring break, the Davenport University softball team faced Winona State and Mary on Friday at the DiamondPlex Softball Complex. The Panthers defeated the Warriors, 8-1, and rolled past the Marauders in five innings, 12-4, for the nightcap. Next up for DU is the home opener on March 19, a doubleheader against Cedarville beginning at noon.
In game one, Winona State struck first before Davenport responded with eight unanswered runs. The first of those eight plated came in the fourth when starting pitcher,
Emma Miller, helped herself with a single that brought in
Rachel Griffin.
Two frames later,
Alexis Cardona opened the damage with a solo homerun, the first of her career, and
Emma Embry followed suit with a three-run shot, her second of the spring. Then, Griffin was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Cardona forced in another with a sacrifice fly to right field and
Riley Hasseld took home when Griffin tried to steal second.
Emma Miller (5-2) went the distance for the seventh time in as many appearances this season, 21st time in her career and is already four complete games away from tying her total for all of 2021. Miller gave up just one earned run on eight hits without a single walk and six strikeouts. The Florida native has now recorded five or more strikeouts with no walks in a game four times in her career, doing so for the first time this season on Friday.
Playing in her 85th career game, starting pitcher
Ellie Muilenburg (2-5) hit the first homerun of her career, a three-run blast that put Davenport ahead 3-1 in the home half of the first inning. The next inning,
Riley Hasseld also went deep for the first time as a Panther, also with a three-run shot, and the Panthers were ahead by five, 6-1.
After the Marauders singled in a pair of runs to make it 6-3 in the third, the Panthers padded their lead. In that same inning,
Brooke Cowan and Hasseld both walked in a run before Griffin knocked in three with a bases-clearing double to left field. In the fourth, Cowan was at it again with a single to center that scored Muilenburg and Davenport's lead was nine, 12-3. Mary scored their fourth and final run in the fifth before Davenport had won thanks to the run rule.
Muilenburg gave up four runs, three earned, on eight hits with only one free pass and seven punchouts.
Story by:
Cooper Weidenthaler
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