Great pitching and timely hitting allowed Edwardsburg to win a Wolverine Conference showdown with visiting Dowagiac Tuesday.

The Eddies and Chieftains both entered Tuesday’s games with identical 10-1 records.

Edwardsburg’s Ali Strycker, Ashley Pion and Hannah Shoupe held Dowagiac to just 10 hits as the Eddies swept the doubleheader 9-1 and 13-4.

“Ali Strycker pitched outstanding,” Edwardsburg coach Randy Brooks said. “Hannah Shoupe and Ashley Pion did a nice job pitching in game two keeping their hitters off balance.”

The Eddies took advantage of a couple of Chieftain miscues in the first inning of the opening game to score three runs.

Dowagiac cut the lead to 3-1 with a run in the fourth, but Edwardsburg got that run back in the bottom of the fifth and then exploded for five runs in the sixth to break the contest open.

In the nightcap, back-to-back five-run innings allowed Edwardsburg (12-1) to blow out Dowagiac (10-3).

“We capitalized on a few mistakes and then got a few hits to break it open late,” Brooks said of the sweep. “We started fast the second game.”

Dowagiac coach Mike Behnke, who was an assistant under Brooks at Dowagiac, said his team needs to learn that it cannot give up extra at-bats to its opponents.

“You can’t give good teams extra outs and expect to win and that is what we did tonight,” Behnke said. “Edwardsburg has too many offensive weapons and they took advantage of the extra outs we gave them.”

Behnke added that his team needs to learn to relax with runners in scoring position.

“We were also too tense at the plate with runners on,” he said. “We could get them but couldn’t drive them in with the exception of Megan (Soderbloom) in the second game.”

Soderbloom doubled, homered and drove in all four of the Chieftains’ runs in the second game.

Shoupe, Strycker and Kailee Claire all doubled for the Eddies in the opening game.

Savannah Dixon, Shoupe, Layne Stinnett and Kaylee Ryker doubled in the nightcap, while Michaela Ritschard and Rileigh Disher all hit home runs.

 

EDWARDSBURG 9-13, DOWAGIAC 1-4

At Edwardsburg

First game

Chiefs  000 100 0 – 1 3 1

Eddies 300  015 x – 9 12 2

Taylor Hulett (L); Ali Strycker (W).

2B: Hannah Shoupe (E), Strycker (E), Kailee Claire (E).

 

Second game

Chiefs  103 000 0 – 4 6 4

Eddies  550 300 x – 13 14 2

Taylor Hulett (L), Megan Soderbloom (2), Kailey Fear (4); Ashley Pion, Hannah Shoupe (W, 4).

2B: Soderbloom (D), Savannah Dixon (E), Shoupe (EC), Layne Stinnett (E), Kaylee Ryker (E).

HR: Soderbloom (D), Michaela Ritschard (E), Rileigh Disher (E).

Varsity records: Dowagiac 10-3, Edwardsburg 12-1.