Wixom, MI - The Blue Devils softball team played conference opponent, Cleary University on Sunday in a double header. Game 1 was all about the Blue Devils as they were able to put up 9 runs in the game. The pitching was great all game from Makayla Benz until the 7^th where both Benz and Madison Shumaker were caught up in some trouble late. The final score in Game 1 was LTU 9, Cleary 4. Game 2 pitchers were Clover Brandt, Benz and Shumaker. LTU won Game 2 in extra innings by a final score of 7-8.

Game 1 (LTU 9, Cleary 11): The Blue Devils offense did not find their first hit until the 4^th inning, where they strung together 3 hits and 3 runs. Haley Mazon has been on a tear lately at the plate, where she hit a line drive home run down the left field line. Mazie Lawler also doubled in the inning and she came around and scored. Callie Tatum singled and came around to score in the inning too. Fast forward to the 6^th inning, the bats really came alive for LTU where they found themselves scoring 5 runs in the inning on 3 hits. Lawler doubled to left, Tatum singled through the ride side of the diamond, and Nicole Powrozek also singled to center, all those Blue Devils were part of the rally in the 6^th. After a dominate game until the 7^th inning, it looked like LTU was going to win easily going into 7^th inning up 9-2. Cleary found themselves a huge rally where they scored 9 runs in the top of the 7^th to take the lead 11-9. In the bottom of the 7^th LTU had base loaded with 1 out and could not drive in any runs. LTU lost 9-11.

How it Happened: Makayla Benz was the Game 1 starter for the Blue Devils. She was replaced by Madison Shumaker in the 7^th inning. Benz pitched 6.2 innings giving up 6 runs, only 4 earned runs. She walked 6 batters and gave up 8 hits. She faced 35 batters and struck out 5. Shumaker pitched 0.1 innings. She gave up 4 hits and 5 runs. Faced 6 batters on 0 strikeouts.

The Blue Devils batters finished Game 1 with a team batting average of .310, 6 RBI, 5 KO's on 9 hits.

Game 2 (LTU 8, Cleary 5): Game 2 starter on the mound was Madison Shumaker. Shumaker pitched a solid outing until the 4^th inning where she gave up 4 runs. Madison finished the game pitching 3.2 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs, 5 ER, 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. She faced a total of 20 batters in this one. Replacing her, was righty Benz, who was Game 1 starter. She came in and shut it down for the Blue Devils. Pitched a great second half of the game, not allowing any runs and only giving up 4 hits in 3.1 innings. Makayla finished the game with 4 strikeouts and facing 15 batters.

 
How it Happened:  LTU started this game off on a tear with the bats. After Cleary scored 1 run in the top of the first, LTU then set the tempo early in the bottom half, where they capitalized on 4 runs. Three singles from, Haley Mazon, Lauren Lanphear, and Elizabeth Coon were the reason for the hot start. In the bottom of the 2^nd, LTU left off right where they were in the previous inning, scoring 2 more runs off of Mazie Lawler single to drive in 2 runs. Cleary was able to find themselves 4 runs in the top of the 4^th to close the gap and take the lead 5-4. LTU bounced right back in the bottom half of the inning to score 2 of their own. This gave them an 8-5 lead. Benz was able to shut down the Cleary offense for the rest of the game. LTU won 8-5. The teams batting average was .438. 14 total hits and had an error free game. With runners on base the team went 10-24 (.417) and 8-20 (.400) with runners in scoring position.

On Deck: The Blue Devils (9-8) is back on the field, Saturday, April 3rd where they will travel south to Fort Wayne, Indiana and play conference opponent Indiana Tech University in a double header. The game will be played at Warrior Park. First pitch for Game 1 is schedule for 1 PM and first pitch for Game 2 will be scheduled to start 3 PM.