Western Wayne Today

Wayne State University's softball team faced setbacks on the final day of the Lewis Dome Invitational, dropping both games. The Warriors, now holding a 3-4 record, were narrowly defeated by the host Flyers with a score of 3-2 and suffered a more significant loss to Minnesota Duluth at 16-6.

In their first game against Lewis University, strong pitching from both teams kept the game scoreless until the fifth inning. Wayne State's Sydney Long and Lewis' Allie Wondrasek exchanged zeroes for four innings. Lewis took a lead in the bottom of the fifth after Ariana Trausch was hit by a pitch with bases loaded. Wayne State responded in the sixth inning when Logan Forman hit a solo home run to tie the game.

The Warriors briefly led in the seventh inning after Jessie O'Donnell scored on Hunter Near's sacrifice fly. However, Lewis rallied in their half of the seventh with Erica Hoffman driving in Nicole Magdziasz to tie it up before an error allowed Katie Jensen to bring home the winning run.

Sydney Long pitched 6.2 innings for Wayne State, allowing three runs (two earned) on ten hits. Wondrasek pitched all seven innings for Lewis, giving up two runs (one earned) on seven hits.

In their second matchup against Minnesota Duluth, Wayne State initially took a lead with Morgan Williams' RBI groundout scoring Maddie Hool. However, Minnesota Duluth gained momentum with S Timmer's three-run homer in the fourth inning and expanded their lead significantly in later innings.

Grace Fisher started for Wayne State but struggled as Minnesota Duluth added two more runs in the fifth inning and exploded for eleven runs in the seventh. Despite four late runs from Wayne State during their last turn at bat, it wasn't enough to overcome Minnesota Duluth's offensive surge.

Fisher allowed five earned runs over four innings while Hayden Batton conceded ten earned runs across 2.1 innings of relief work.

Wayne State looks ahead to hosting a doubleheader against Findlay University next Sunday if weather conditions allow.