The Tiffin University softball team took care of business on Monday, sweeping the Malone Pioneers 4-0 and 8-0. In game one, Kimmy Reynolds took the mound, and devoured each Pioneer that stepped in the box.
The Tiffin offense gave Kimmy an early run in their very first at bat. Jena King lined a single that deflected off the Pioneer pitcher to score Cassandra Brown to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead.
Allyson Rock pushed the Dragon lead to 2-0 with a RBI single to left field to plate Tamara Link. Tiffin dented the plate twice in the 3rd. A Jena King double to deep center field pushed Kaitlin Gruenewald home, and Madison Yanek knocked in King with a sacrifice fly to right field, and the Dragons led 4-0.
Meanwhile, Kimmy was dealing on the mound, facing 21 batters and retiring 21. The perfect game continues Reynolds' string of dominating performances. She used excellent fastball command to punch out 11 of the 21 she faced. The win moves Reynolds to 8-3 overall.
At the plate, Jena King was 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs, and Tamara Link also collected a pair of hits, including a double.
In game two, Sarah Brown toed the rubber for Tiffin. Sarah gave up a few hits early, but righted the ship and never allowed a run.
On the other side, the Dragon offense enjoyed a big first inning. Kaitlin Gruenewald singled to leadoff the game, and immediately stole second. She then advanced to third with a Cassandra Brown single. Then the Dragons pulled off the double steal, Brown broke for second, and the Pioneers threw down. Gruenewald broke for home on the throw and scored without a throw to give the Dragons a 1-0 lead.
The scoring kept coming in the inning. Jena King traded places with Cassandra Brown at second base with a double to drive home King, and Delaney Mixer singled to right field to push King home to make it 3-0.
Delaney Mixer was right back at it in the 4th. With two on, Mixer smacked a single to right field to push both runners to the plate and made it a 5-0 lead. Samantha Ringwalt then singled to right field to push Mixer to third base, but Mixer just kept on running, and forced the Pioneers into a mistake as Delaney scored on the error by the right fielder.
The final blow of the inning was self inflicted by the Pioneers. With two runners on, Kristin Prokopakis popped a ball harmlessly to the shortstop, but what seemed harmless turned into a two run error as the ball was dropped. All of the five runs in the 4th inning came with two outs.
Sarah Brown lasted 3 innings for the Dragons, giving up 2 hits, walked 3, and punched out 4. She was relieved by Kelsey Yaratch. Yaratch threw the final two innings, and didn't surrender a run.
At the plate for Tiffin Jena King was 3 for 4 with an RBI, Delaney Mixer was also 3 for 4, and added 3 runs batted in, and Cassandra Brown and Kaitlin Gruenewald added two hits each.
The sweep moves the Dragons to 17-11 overall and 8-2 in GLIAC play. The Dragons have won four in a row, and will put their streak to the test on Saturday in Big Rapids, Michigan as they take on the Ferris State Bulldogs.
