Arinn King
SOFTBALL
The Hope College softball team turned two on Saturday and became champions. The Flying Dutch defeated Trine University, 7-6 in eight innings, and 6-5 in seven innings, on Senior Day at Wolters Stadium to clinch a share of their sixth Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship.
Both Hope and Trine finished with 14-2 league records. The Flying Dutch (23-9 overall) will learn their seed for next week’s eight-team league tournament later this weekend.
A double play in Trine’s last at-bat helped secure the sweep. After making a fielding error on the leadoff batter, Hope third baseman Bre Nolan (Metamora, Michigan / Lapeer HS) rebounded on the next batter to start a 5-4-3 double play.
Second baseman Arinn King (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville) made a quick turn at second base to fire in time to first baseman Kaelin Callow (Plainfield, Illinois / Plainfield).
Two batters later, reliever Alaina Adams (5-2) recorded the final out on a grounder to shortstop Savannah Dixon (Niles, Michigan / Edwardsburg).
MEN’S LACROSSE
Hope midfielder Liam Cunningham scored a goal just 12 seconds into the game, and the historic rout was on.
The Hope College men’s lacrosse team scored the first 10 goals of the contest and went on to defeat Adrian College, 24-3, on Saturday afternoon in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament held at Van Andel Soccer Stadium.
The 24 goals tied for the second most scored in MIAA tournament history. Albion College holds the record with 26 goals scored against Olivet College in 2015.
The Flying Dutchmen improve to 10-1. They now host Calvin University on Tuesday, May 4 at 7 p.m.
Luke Elder and Michael Mann each had four goals as 15 different players had at least one goal for the Flying Dutchmen.
BASEBALL
The Hope College baseball team enters the final week of the regular season positioned to gain a high seed in the MIAA tournament after sweeping a four-game weekend series over Albion College. The Flying Dutchmen scored two victories on Saturday at Albion, 16-6 and 8-6 in eight innings. Those victories followed wins on Friday at Hope, 11-1 and 6-0.
With a seven-game winning streak, coach Stu Fritz’s Flying Dutchmen stand 18-13 overall.
The nightcap was a see-saw affair as the Albion Britons on three occasions erased a Hope lead with a home run. The Flying Dutchmen finally pushed the winning run across the plate in the eighth on a two-out two-RBI single by Brant Kym (Libertyville, Ill./Libertyville), pictured right, scoring Evan Maday (Grand Rapids, Mich./East Kentwood) and Cal Barrett (Chelsea, Mich./Chelsea).
Jake Van Dam (Cranford, N.J./Cranford), the third Hope pitcher, gained the victory (2-1) with two innings of relief. Starter Max Gaishin (Stevensville, Mich./Lakeshore) pitched into the fourth inning while Graham O’Gorman (Champaign, Ill./Champaign Central) went through the sixth.
WOMEN’S TRACK/FIELD
The Hope College women’s outdoor track and field team won for the second-straight week, taking first place at the Olivet College Tune-Up on Saturday. Of the four team-scoring meets of the 2021 campaign, the Flying Dutch have won three of them. Hope won eight different individual events and both relays to score 145.50 points.
Addyson Gerig (Holland, Michigan / West Ottawa HS) earned high-point honors for the Dutch, winning both the high jump and triple jump while taking third in the 100-meter hurdles. It was the third time this season she has won both the high jump and triple jump at the same meet.
The senior opened the day in the high jump, clearing a height of 1.55 meters (5 feet, 1 inch) before stretching the tape to 10.61 meters (34-9 ¾) in the triple jump. Gerig concluded her day with a third-place time of 17.15 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles.
Freshman Bethany Colbrunn (Zeeland, Michigan / Zeeland East) earned her second victory in the pole vault this season, taking the win today behind a career-best height of 2.90 meters (9-6 ¼).
MEN’S TRACK/FIELD
David McHugh, Andrew Althouse, and Jared Lowe led the Hope College men’s track and field team at the Olivet College Tune-Up on Saturday with event victories. Lowe and Althouse won their respective events in the field, while McHugh earned a first-place result on the track.
McHugh (Whitehall, Michigan / Reeths Puffer HS) took top honors in the 400-meter hurdles. With a career-best time of 56.75 seconds, the junior was the only competitor to cross the line in under one minute.
Lowe (Cincinnati, Ohio / Wyoming) earned the team’s first win of the day, clearing a season-best height of 1.90 meters in the high jump (6-2 ¾). It was the senior’s first individual victory of the year.
Althouse also earned his first win of the 2021 campaign. The senior from Ludington, Michigan (Ludington) native eclipsed the 40-meter mark in the discus for the first time in competition to take first place. He was credited with a final distance of 42.84 meters (140-7).
WOMEN’S LACROSSE
After a back-and-forth battle that led to a tied score in the first half, the MIAA Tournament Championship game was shaping up to be another nail-biting affair between the Hope College women’s lacrosse team and the Saint Mary’s College squad.
But a fiery second-half start by the Belles – that featured five unanswered goals – and a slow one for the Flying Dutch – who did not score until there was 12 minutes left to go – was the tale of the tape in the end. Hope succumbed to Saint Mary’s, 14-13, in South Bend, Indiana on Saturday.
The Flying Dutch ended their season with an 11-3 overall record
It was the third time Hope had made the tournament finals. The Flying Dutch were also runners-up in 2017 and 2021.
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