KENOSHA, Wis. - After splitting the home-opening doubleheader with Purdue Northwest on Friday, the Davenport softball team had a quick turnaround with a trip to Parkside for two on Saturday. The Panthers won an 7-5 slugfest in game one before the Rangers walked it off in game two, 3-2. Next up on the schedule, Davenport will host Northwood on Wednesday with the first pitch in game one scheduled for 3:30 p.m.

Davenport struck first in game one with a three spot in the top of the second inning thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Anelise Worden and a two runs scoring when Rachel Griffin reached on an error by the shortstop. Parkside responded, though, with a run in the home half of the second and two more in the third to make it a 3-3 game.

Two innings later, Rylie Kalina came through with a sacrifice fly to right field and Alexis Koza hit a two-run double to right center to give the Panthers a three-run advantage, 6-3. After an RBI groundout by the Rangers in the sixth, Koza came right back in the seventh with another double, this time to right, that put Davenport ahead by three, 7-4. Parkside's fifth and final run came in the bottom of the seventh with a solo homerun, but it was too little, too late.

In the circle, Ellie Muilenburg got the start, but was pulled after two and two-thirds innings giving way to Taylor Simon's brilliant performance. Simon handled the final four and a third frames for her first win of the season to improve to 1-1 in 2021.

In the nightcap, Parkside was first on the board with a run in both the first and second frames. Fast forward to the top of the sixth where Davenport got back-to-back RBI doubles from Griffin and Kalina to knot the score up at two runs apiece. In the bottom of the seventh, the Rangers' first batter singled and moved to second on a throwing error by the shortstop. The next batter singled as well before the game-winning run came around to score because of an error by the first baseman.

Emma Miller (3-4) took the loss, but walked just one Ranger and struck out four in six innings of work.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler