Miami (OH) Downs Softball Team in MAC Opener

OXFORD, Ohio – The Western Michigan softball team lost its Mid-American Conference opener to the Miami Redhawks on the road 8-2 Friday evening. The Broncos were led by Riley Dittmar and Gabbie Evans, who both had one hit and one RBI in the loss. 

In the third inning, the Broncos saw their first base runners of the game: With one out in the inning, Rissa Bajusz reached base after an error from the Miami shortstop. Addison Hudson would follow Bajusz and successfully made it to first base safely after singling off of a bunt. Despite the two runners on first and second, WMU saw two consecutive outs to end the inning.

During the top of the fifth inning, Dittmar singled and scored Haleigh Smith on the play to give the Brown and Gold their first run of the game. With Dittmar’s RBI, the Broncos had pulled within one run of Miami with the score at 2-1. However, during the bottom half of the fifth, the Redhawks tacked on five runs to take a 7-1 lead over WMU heading into the top of the sixth inning.

The Brown and Gold would score their final run of the day during the top half of the sixth. To start up the offense, Haley Boxwell led off the inning with a double, and Megan Welsh flew out to center field to advance pinch runner Emily Yacapraro to third base. With Evans up to bat, she drove in Yacapraro after hitting a single and helped the Broncos to their second and final run of the day.

Historical Notes 

Bajusz, now with 388 career strikeouts, is eight K’s from passing Jennifer Vanover (1996-99) and Laura Stewart (2001-04) to claim the fifth most career strikeouts by a pitcher for the WMU softball team. 
 
Up Next

The Brown and Gold will continue their road series at the Redhawks on Saturday with a doubleheader. Game one will start at 1:00 PM and game two will follow after at 3:00 PM.