CALEDONIA, Mich. - Davenport's junior right-hander, Ellie Muilenburg, made history on Saturday as she became the first Davenport pitcher to ever throw a seven-inning no-hitter at Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex (opened in 2013) and did so with a career high 15 strikeouts. Muilenburg's no-hitter is the first by a Panther pitcher in seven innings, home or away, since May 5, 2016 when Emily Maves did it against Siena Heights and with just as many strikeouts as Muilenburg. Saturday, the Panthers took game two with Parkside, 3-0, after dropping the first game, 5-4.

"It feels good to get the win with a historic moment on Senior Day," said Muilenburg. "We were out there having fun as a team and the no-hitter hasn't really hit me yet. My spin was on and I kept to pitching my game, staying loose and confident."

"I'm super proud of our team for bouncing back today on Senior Day," said head coach, Amber Bowman. "It's always a great feeling to have your seniors end their last game at home with a win! Ellie had a great game and she was very composed in the circle! This was a long time coming for her and I'm so excited she was able to get her first no-hitter during our Senior Day!"

With the Senior Day split, Davenport now sits at 17-17 overall and 13-9 in GLIAC play, which is currently good for third in the league standings. On the other side, Parkside is no 13-21 on the season and 9-13 in conference action. Next up for the Panthers, they'll be at Ferris State on Tuesday with the first pitch in game one set for 2:30 p.m. in Big Rapids.

Shining a little more light on Muilenburg's outing, it also meant the following for school history:

• First home seven-inning no-hitter since April 16, 2011 (Christian Rec Center).
• Third no-hitter of any length ever at Farmers Insurance Athletic Complex.
  • Last was on April 15, 2015, also by Maves, against Cornerstone.
• Seventh home no-hitter of any length in program history.

Muilenburg improved to 7-7 in 2021 as she faced three batters over the minimum on Saturday with a pair of walks and a hit-by-pitch. The Grandville native has now struck out 10 or more batters five times in her career, all coming this season, and has reached that mark in back-to-back outings for the first time in her career after striking out 10 against Ashland.

Scoring wise, Alexis Koza singled in Monica Meger in the second, Rachel Griffin scored when Meger reached on an error in the third, and Griffin brought in Gabby Palazzolo in the fourth.

In the first game of the day, Davenport struck first in the second when Mariah Cura hit a solo homerun to left, her fifth blast of the season. However, Parkside responded with two runs in the third and three more in the fourth to go ahead by four, 5-1. In the home half of the fourth, the Panthers got one back when Griffin pushed Koza across with a sacrifice fly to right field in foul territory. Fast forward to a busy bottom of the seventh and the hosts made it interesting.

Griffin opened the frame with a triple to right center, her fourth of the season, and scored one out later with Rylie Kalina's base knock to left. That made the score 5-3 before Davenport's fourth and final run came when Kalina scored on a fielder's choice by Emma Miller to the second baseman. However, Palazzolo struck out swinging and two Panthers were left on base.

Seniors, Mariah Cura and Jorden Urban, were honored prior to the start of game one for all of their contributions to the Davenport softball program over the past four years.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler