DOWAGIAC — There were a lot of ups and downs for the Niles softball team at the Chieftain Invitational Saturday.

The Vikings let a game slip away from it in the opening round as they were defeated by White Lake-Lakeland 7-4. Niles then routed Kalamazoo Central 16-1 in five innings before being no-hit by Dundee in an 11-0 loss, also in five innings.

The Vikings (1-4) got a home run from Sarah Cramer in the opening game.

Cramer added a single and a double in the second game victory over the Maroon Giants. Hannah Porterfield also had a single and a double, while Carey Larkin doubled as well.

Tala Gentry earned the victory for the Vikings.

Niles lacked emotion in the final game against Dundee, which despite one lose finished fifth.

As a result, Dundee scored twice in the first and third innings, fourth times in the second and three times in the fourth to end the game after just five innings.

“We played six really good inning of softball today,” first-year Niles coach Ryan Frontczak said. “We had a couple errors the first game, but we kind of stuck with it until things unraveled in the seventh inning. Then we played really good against KC. We came out and hit the ball and pitched the ball well giving up just the one hit.

“Then we came into this game (Dundee) we struggled. We came out and we were not ready to go. We played good the first six innings of the first game and five good innings in the second game. Then we just didn’t show up and that’s my fault. We have a lot of work to do.”

Chieftain Invitational

At Dowagiac

First game

Niles 010 100 0 – 2 5 2

Lakeland 010 114 x – 7 10 1

Molly VanDerKeere (L)

HR: Sarah Cramer (N)

Second game

Central 000 10 – 1 1 2

Niles 064 6x – 16 9 1

Tala Gentry (W); Marissa Jansse (L)

2B: Larkin Carey (N), Hannah Porterfield (N), Cramer (N)

Third game

Niles 000 00 – 0 0 3

Dundee 242 3 x 11 7 1

Vanessa Ewind (W); VanDerKeere (L)