GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – Emily Maves took a no-hitter into the seventh in game one and had to stop Concordia's softball team from rallying in the nightcap as she and 15^th-ranked Davenport began its Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference title defense with a 5-0 game-one and 7-6 game-two wins on a perfect Wednesday afternoon at the Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex.
 
Game 1 – Davenport 5, Concordia 0
Maves (12-4) had a bit of a slow start by walking three batters in the first four innings but went on to retire eight straight before allowing the first hit in the seventh. She went on to finish the game striking out 10.
 
The offense, meanwhile, also had a cold start and didn't start to heat up until the fifth. Ashleigh Blovsky hit a one-out single and scored on Haley Obett's double to left. The first baseman took third on the throw and scored on a fielder's choice during Carli SanMillan's at-bat.
 
Davenport (22-4, 2-0 WHAC) added more breathing room for Maves in the sixth. KC Dunne led off with a single to short and Alyssa Eastman delivered a two-run shot to left center for her sixth of the year. Karli Myers kept the momentum going with a single, reached third by force and scored the fifth run during a defensive mistake by the Cardinals.
 
Game 2 – Davenport 7, Concordia 6
Davenport got on the board in the second inning when Lindsay Tasma drew a one-out walk before the left-hander Blovsky blasted a pitch to the opposite field for a two-run homer. The Panthers added four more runs with only two outs in the third. Dunne reached on a fielder's choice and Paige Sant'Angelo, who made a return from an injury after missing five games, followed with an RBI single to left. Tasma would drive in two more runs with a single up the middle.
 
But the Panthers learned that even though they had a six-run lead, the cruise control button malfunctioned as mental mistakes, offensively and defensively, allowed the Cardinals (6-11, 0-2 WHAC) to rally from behind late. Concordia got on the board in the sixth scoring two runs off of Eastman and down to the last strike twice, the Cardinals rally became complete with a four-run seventh inning.
 
Maves checked into the game with two away and a runner at second. The only batter she faced hit a short fly to left which could have driven in the go-ahead run but Myers made a brilliant dive to preserve the tie for the Panthers.
 
Myers then would lead off the home half of the seventh with a double to right center and the Cardinals decided not to face Dunne thus intentionally walking her. But the plan backfired as Sant'Angelo hit a double to right center deep enough to drive in the winning run.
 
Eastman threw six innings allowing an earned run, seven hits and no walks while striking out seven.
 
Conference play continues as the Panthers make a visit to Lourdes Friday at 1 p.m. to make-up the doubleheader that was postponed due to the cold temperatures last weekend.
 
Softball Contact: Rick Hoskin | 616-871-6180 | rhoskin@davenport.edu
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