Michigan State Spartan Softball Opens the Season with Two Big Wins!

Michigan State softball opened the season with a pair of wins at Stetson’s Leadoff Classic on Friday. The Spartans downed Akron 5-0 behind a one-hitter from

Michigan State softball opened the season with a pair of wins at Stetson’s Leadoff Classic on Friday. The Spartans downed Akron 5-0 behind a one-hitter from sophomore Valerie Kaff in the morning game, then fired off 10 hits in a 7-1 victory over Rhode Island in the nightcap. Sophomore Sarah Gutknecht went a combined 4-for-6 in the two games, while classmate Kassidy Kujawa went 2-for-5 with a home run and four RBI. MSU takes on Morehead State and host Stetson in Saturday’s action.

Michigan State 5, Akron 0

Michigan State opened the 2015 season with a convincing 5-0 victory over Akron at the Westin Lake Mary Leadoff Classic at Stetson on Friday. Valerie Kaff tossed a complete game one-hitter, striking out five to score MSU its first win of the season.

Offensively, the Spartans plated three on a double by Kassidy Kujawa in the third and another two in the fifth on a bases-loaded single by Sarah Gutknecht. Freshman McKenzie Long went 2-for-3 in her collegiate debut, the lone freshman to earn a start on opening day. In all, MSU had seven hits, but left eight on base.

“It’s a really strong way for us to start the season,” said head coach Jacquie Joseph, now in her 22nd year at the helm of the Michigan State program. “It was such a strong outing for Val – she was just on top of it today. I thought we swung the bats pretty well. Obviously, we’re still a work in progress – but for day one, game one, we’re happy with what we saw this morning. Now, we get ready for our second game this afternoon against Rhode Island.”

The Spartans left a pair of runners on in the bottom of the first. McKinzie Freimuth led off with an 0-2 count, then faced four straight balls to take first base. Sarah Gutknecht laced a one-out single to center to advance Freimuth to third, but a groundout by Besson and a strikeout by Kujwawa stranded both runners.

In the bottom of the third, Freimuth led off with a walk, and Long got her first collegiate hit with bunt single to third. On a sacrifice attempt, Gutknecht reached on an error by the third baseman, loading the bases. Two batters later, Kujawa smacked a double to left that scored all three baserunners, but she got caught trying to take third on the initial throw home. Stoffer was retired to end the inning, but the Spartans had gotten their offense going.

In the bottom of the fourth, Alyssa McBride drew a one-out walk, followed by Jacquie Reiser reaching on a hit by pitch. Two batters later, Long legged out an infield single to short, loading the bases for Gutknecht. The sophomore singled through the left side, plating McBride and Reiser for a 5-0 lead. Akron pitcher Erin Seiler hit Besson to load the bases again, but struck out Kujawa to get out of the inning with just two runs allowed.

Meanwhile, Kaff kept rolling through the Zips lineup, facing just two batters over the minimum in tossing a complete game. In her 66 pitches, she threw 49 for strikes, allowing just one hit (an infield single in the top of the fourth) and hitting one batter. Her five strikeouts was the second-most for the sophomore in a game in her career.

With a 5-0 lead and getting a dominating performance by her pitcher, Joseph went to her bench in the later innings to get some other players into the game, as senior Stephanie Sanders, sophomore Shanin Thomas, and freshmen Lea Foerster and Sydney Heath each came into the game as pinch hitters. Foerster came up with her first collegiate hit, a single to left, in the sixth.

Michigan State 7, Rhode Island 1

MSU improved to 2-0 on the season with a 7-1 victory over Rhode Island in the nightcap. The Spartans rattled off 10 hits, two each for seniors Alyssa McBride and Stephanie Sanders and sophomore Sarah Gutknecht.

Freshman pitcher Bridgette Rainey made her collegiate debut, while redshirt freshman Kristina Zalewski returned to the active roster after pitching just 33 innings in an injury-shortened 2014 campaign.

“I’m quite happy with what we accomplished today,” said head coach Jacquie Joseph. “We were able to try a couple of different things lineup-wise, and our freshmen got some experience. We’re still going to go through the process of getting everyone feeling comfortable and confident – those first-game and first-day jitters are real. I thought we swung the bat pretty well today, and got some nice work out of our pitchers. We’re going to look for more of that again tomorrow when we have two more games on tap.

Kassidy Kujawa gave MSU a 1-0 lead in the top of the second, leading off the inning with a home run over the left-field fence. It was the first homer of the season for the sophomore, and the fourth of her career.

In the top of the third, Foerster and Gutknecht each got on with a pair of two-out singles, and advanced into scoring position on a passed ball. Sanders followed with a double to left, plating two runs and giving the Spartans a 3-0 lead. After Kujawa drew a walk, the inning ended on a groundout to third by Luna.

The Rams chipped into the MSU lead in the bottom of the third. Dannielle Gariglio earned a one-out walk, and advanced when left fielder Emily Hendricks legged out an infield single. Rainey hit Lauren Klepcick to load the bases, and Ali Summers reached on a fielder’s choice, plating Gariglio to cut MSU’s lead to 3-1. Deanna Wolf grounded out to Gutknecht at third, ending the inning.

MSU got the run right back in the top of the fourth, as McBride led off the inning with an infield single, and Stoffer sacrificed her over to second. Lea Foerster smacked a double up the middle, plating McBride. Heath came in to hit for Long, taking first on a walk, bringing Gutknecht to the plate. She ripped the first pitch just into foul territory in deep left, but flew out for the third out of the inning.

Kristina Zalewski spelled Rainey for the bottom of the fifth. The freshman tossed four innings, allowing one run with a pair of strikeouts and two walks. Zalewski, who missed a significant portion of the 2014 season, threw three innings, working out of a two-on, two-out jam in the sixth and finishing with three strikeouts and earning her first career save.

In the top of the sixth, Gutknecht and Sanders reached base with back-to-back two-out hits, bringing Kujawa to the plate. The sophomore had been walked twice in the game to that point, but popped out to deep right to strand a pair.

McBride led off the top of the seventh with a stand-up double to deep center, and scored when Lea Foerster reached on an error. Freimuth smacked a two-out double off the wall in deep center to plate Foerster, making it a 7-1 game. Freimuth then took third on a passed ball, but URI finally got out of the inning on another hard-hit ball to center, this one by Long.

Despite a one-out single by Megan Congro in the bottom of the seventh, Zalewski worked an efficient half-inning to retire the side and secure MSU’s second victory of the day.

The Spartans are back in action on Saturday, playing Morehead State in a 2 p.m. start, followed by a 4 p.m. game against host Stetson. MSU will cap the tournament with a 10 a.m. game against Akron on Sunday morning.