Michigan State University
1-0
Akron
0-1
Kaff Tosses One-Hitter In Season-Opening Win
2/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Akron 1
DeLand, Florida -- 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 two more 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.
The Spartans play their second game at 4 p.m. vs Rhode Island at Stetson's Patricia Wilson Field.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Kaff, Valerie (1-0)
L: SEILER, Erin (0-1)
Batting:
SH: ALLMON, Taryn 1
Base Running:
HBP: ROUDABUSH, Kellie 1
Batting:
2B: Kujawa, Kassidy 1
RBI: Gutknecht, Sarah 2 ; Kujawa, Kassidy 3
SH: Gutknecht, Sarah 1 ; Luna, Destinee 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Freimuth, McKinzie 1 ; Long, McKenzie 1 ; Gutknecht, Sarah 1 ; McBride, Alyssa 1 ; Reiser, Jacquie 1
HBP: Besson, Lindsey 1 ; Stoffer, Ellie 1 ; Reiser, Jacquie 1
