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Box Score 2 OLIVET, Mich. – The Calvin softball team finished the season with two wins at Olivet College on Saturday afternoon. The Knights finished the 2016 campaign with a 23-13 record, the most wins in a single season since 2005, when Calvin went 25-13. Saturday's 8-7 and 8-3 victories at Olivet gave Calvin a 9-7 record in the MIAA. The Knights finished the year on a seven-game winning streak with wins over Adrian, Cornerstone, Hope and Olivet.
"I am so proud of the team," said Calvin head coach Kevin Vande Streek. "It was a real honor to get to coach these players. They were a wonderful bunch to be around and they worked really hard this season. This team had some great senior leadership and great youth. They were able to pick up two great team wins today and they should be proud of what they accomplished this season."
Freshman Maddie DeGroot wasted no time in scoring in game one with a leadoff homerun over the left-field fence to start the game for her fifth homerun of the year.
The Comets would take the lead in the bottom of the first inning with a two-run homerun to center.
Senior Caitlin Bell would tie the game in the second inning with a single up the middle to score freshman Anna Gernant.
Olivet would once again take the lead with a three-run third inning.
Maddie DeGroot would make it a 3-5 game in the fourth inning with a single up the middle to score Caitlin Bell from second base.
In the fifth inning, senior Lydia Gildea doubled to center, scoring senior Ashley Riemersma from second base. Sophomore Kaley Frank would tie the game at five, scoring Gildea with a single through the middle of the infield.
Olivet would not go away however and tacked two runs to the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 7-5 lead.
The Knights would tie the game with two runs in the sixth inning. Caitlin Bell scored on a wild pitch and Lydia Gildea doubled in freshman Rachel Borden. Gildea finished the season with a school-record 48 RBI, she also led the Knights on the season with 49 hits and a career-best seven homeruns. Gildea finished 2016 with a slugging percentage of .692, for the third-best season in Calvin softball history.
Maddie DeGroot broke the tie with the eventual game-winning run with a single that scored sophomore Jessica Brasser.
Anna Gernant was once again dominant in the circle for Calvin on Saturday afternoon. She finished with nine strikeouts. Her victory was the 13th of the season for the Calvin freshman, which is tied for the eighth best in a single-season at Calvin College. She also finished the year with 151 strikeouts, which ranks her fifth in the Calvin record book for a single season, it is also the second-most for a Calvin freshman.
Maddie DeGroot finished with a game-high three hits and three RBI. Her four triples on the year is tied for fourth-best in a single season in Calvin softball history.
Olivet took an early 2-0 lead in game two with a run in the first and second inning, but it would be all Calvin after that.
The Knights shut the door on the Comets with a seven-run fourth inning. Kaley Frank started the scoring with a three-run blast over the left-field fence for her second homerun of the season to score Jessica Brasser and Lydia Gildea. Ashley Riemersma then scored Caitlin Bell on a single down the left-field line. The Comets thought they got out of the inning when Christine Wood dropped what would have been the third out from Lydia Gildea, Ashley Riemersma, Rachel Borden and Maddie DeGroot scored on the error.
Caitlin Bell extended the lead in the fifth inning with a single that scored sophomore Kimiko Hinatsu from second base.
The Comets would score a run in the seventh but it would not be enough and Calvin would walk away 8-3 winners.
Junior Paige Groom hushed the Olivet bats on Saturday, holding the Comets to five hits. She struck out three and picked up her sixth victory of the year.
Kaley Frank had a game-high three RBI and Jessica Brasser, Kimiko Hinatsu and Caitlin Bell finished with two hits. Jessica Brasser finished the year with 12 doubles, which is the second-most in Calvin history.
The Calvin senior class finished with 72 victories and winners of 10 of its last 11 games.
