Purdue Calumet Splits With St. Francis in CCAC League Doubleheader

PUC-PeregrinsThe Purdue University Calumet softball team used a big first inning to capture a Game 1 win before falling in Game 2 to the University of St. Francis (Ill.) in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference split Thursday at Dowling Park’s Fifth Third Field.

The Peregrines (9-8, 2-4) won Game 1, 11-5, before falling in the nightcap in six innings, 10-0, to the Fighting Saints (11-7, 2-4).

Purdue Calumet returns to action Saturday, March 28, when the Peregrines host Clarke University in a rescheduled game from earlier in the season. The nonleague doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. (CT).

GAME 1: Purdue Calumet 11, St. Francis 5
Purdue Calumet batted around its order to the tune of an eight-run first inning that gave starter Alison Kimble (Greenup, Ill./Cumberland) a big lead en route to her fourth victory of the season.

Senior Ashley Adams (Lafayette, Ind./Central Catholic) started the scoring with an RBI single and teammates Alex Morales (Bartlett, Ill./Barlett) and Kimble added RBI singles of their own to make it 3-0 Peregrines.

The Peregrines capitalized on a Saints’ outfield error that scored three unearned and senior Alicia Ward (Mishawaka, Ind./Jimtown) – in her second at-bat of the inning – added more offense with an RBI-single to left field that made it 7-0. Freshman Kaitlyn Skarecky (Naperville, Ill./Naperville Central) added the inning’s final RBI with a single to centerfield before USF got out of the inning with a successful rundown at third base.

The Saints didn’t go away, scoring four in the top of the third thanks to a two-run home run by Torey Borkowski. The Saints would add one more in the fourth on a solo home run by Ally Balandis to cut the lead to three, 8-5.

Adams then blasted her team-leading third home run of the season over the center field fence as the Peregrines added two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth – on a Skyler Woods (Beecher, Ill./Beecher) RBI-single that scored Emily Cole (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln Way North).

Woods finished 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI, while Ward, Adams, Skarecky, and Kimble each added two hits to lead the Peregrine hitters. Kimble scattered seven hits, giving up five earned runs with two strikeouts.

GAME 2: St. Francis 10, Purdue Calumet 0 (6 innings)
St. Francis starter Morghan Dieringer held the Peregrines to just four hits in the shutout and the Saints erupted for 13 hits – including three home runs – en route to a big Game 2 victory.

The Saints plated runs in the second (Torey Borkowksi two-run home run), third (Jhane King three-run home run), and sixth (Brooke Karraker two-run home run), to shorten the evening in the six-inning contest.

The Peregrines were held to just one extra-base hit, on Kaitlyn Skarecky’s lead-off double to left center in the second inning.