Next game:
vs. Hamilton College
03/20/2023 | 9 a.m.
March 20 (Monday) / 9 a.m.
vs. Hamilton College
History
The Hope College softball team split two games Saturday afternoon as the Flying Dutch continued their spring break trip to Florida, beating Bowdoin (Maine) College 9-1 in six innings and losing to the Tufts University (Massachusetts) 8-1.
The Flying Dutch are now 5-4 this season.
Hope took advantage of the savagery and defensive errors to take control of the game against Bowdoin in the third set. The Flying Dutchmen scored five runs without the benefit of a hit. Hope was walked six times, three of them with the bases loaded to force the runs, while Bowdoin committed two errors and had a passed ball.
Hope added two more runs in the fourth. Second-year right fielder Lexie DeHoop of Hudsonville, Mich. (Unity Christian) opened the inning with a single, and junior designated player Sydney Zombo of Clinton Township, Mich. (Fraser) doubled DeHoop in third. Junior center fielder Peyton Benjamin then followed with another brace, scoring DeHoop and Zombo to increase Hope’s lead to 7-0.
After Bowdoin went up the board with a home run in the fourth, Hope added single runs in the fifth and sixth to seal the win under the run rule. In the fifth, junior shortstop Grace Henry of Hudsonville, Michigan (Hudsonville) singled, stole second and headed home on a double by Shelby Township senior second baseman Cayley Ebeling, Michigan (Utica).
In the sixth, Hope got his last run when Benjamin and Henry executed a double steal, Benjamin scoring on the play.
The Flying Dutch put up a 10-hit offense in the win, with Benjamin leading with a 3-for-4 performance and two RBIs. Zombo reached base four times on two hits and two walks, and DeHoop went 2-for-4.
Second-year pitcher Grace Connelly of Grandville, Mich. (Grandville) picked up the win in the circle, scattering five hits over four innings to improve her record to 3-1. She struck out three and didn’t walk a batter. Junior Jennaka Bultman of Shawnee Mission, Kansas (Shawnee Mission) pitched two scoreless innings in relief, striking out two.
In game two, Tufts pounced on the Flying Dutchman for seven runs in the first two innings, two in the first, and five in the second.
Hope entered the board in the third inning when freshman outfielder Kennedi Pochmara of Clinton Township, Michigan (Chippewa Valley) doubled and scored on an RBI single from Benjamin.
The Flying Dutch had six hits against the Jumbos, led by Zombo with a double and a single.
Junior pitcher Alaina Adams of Oak Creek, Wis. suffered the loss, giving up six runs in one working inning to drop to 1-2 on the season. Freshman pitcher Samantha Vermeesch of Ithaca, Mich. (Ithaca) held Tufts to two runs and seven hits in six innings of relief, striking out five and walking none.
Hope’s spring trip continues Monday with two games in Winter Haven, Fla. – first a 9 a.m. game against Hamilton (New York) College, followed by an 11:30 a.m. game against Middlebury (Vermont) College.
