The Hillsdale College softball team ended the 2025 Lewis Dome Invitational on Sunday morning with another split, departing the Chicagoland area with two victories over the weekend.
Hillsdale took down a hometown squad in Roosevelt in the first game of the day, taking a 5-1 victory. In her first complete game start of the season, senior
Joni Russell looked dominant in the circle, throwing a seven-inning one-hitter with nine strikeouts and three walks, and just missed a shutout as the Lakers were able to drive home a leadoff walk with two sacrifice bunts in the top of the first inning.
That run put the Chargers briefly behind, but Hillsdale swiftly answered in the bottom of the inning, leading off with back-to-back singles and getting
Emma Sather home on a wild pitch to tie up the game. Hillsdale took the lead for good on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the second, then added another run with a leadoff bomb by
Ashley Strick over the left-field fence in the bottom of the fourth for the senior's first home run of the season.
Strick helped Hillsdale pull away for good in the bottom of the fifth, adding a RBI double to her solo home run, and then scoring on the next at-bat on a RBI single by
Emma Sather to give the Chargers a 5-1 edge.
Along with Strick's two extra base hits, Sather also went 2 for 4 at the plate for the Chargers and
Sydney Davis went 2 for 2 with a double as well as the Chargers pounded out 10 hits.
The Chargers couldn't maintain the momentum from their opening game victory in the second game of the day, as the Chargers fell behind early and never recovered in a 12-0 loss to Truman State to close out the weekend.
Hillsdale was held hitless in the loss, and had just two baserunners.
Gracelynn Kelly (1-3) took the loss on the mound, and
Mackenzi Maxson pitched the final four and two-thirds innings in relief, with three strikeouts and two walks.
The Chargers are now 6-7 overall after a five-game weekend in Chicago, and will take the next two weeks off to recuperate and work on improvement. The next time Hillsdale will be in action will be over Spring Break, when the Chargers travel to Florida for 10 games, starting with a pair of contests against Minnesota-Duluth and Indiana (PA) on Sunday, March 9 in Clermont, Florida.
Photo by Reva Ludwig
