Wednesday, April 16
Fort Wayne, Ind.
Noon
Purdue Fort Wayne
12-20, 8-6
4
vs
7
Cleveland State
20-14, 15-2
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
R
H
E
Cleveland State
0
0
0
0
4
0
0
3
7
11
1
Purdue Fort Wayne
0
0
2
0
2
0
0
0
4
9
4
Grace Hollopeter
Photo by: Rachel Von Art
Mastodon Softball Beats League Leader Cleveland State in Game Three
4/16/2025 5:42:00 PM | Softball
FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The Purdue Fort Wayne softball team picked up a win over Cleveland State on Wednesday (April 16) in the third game of the series. CSU took game two 7-4 in eight innings and the Mastodons won game three 4-3 thanks to a go-ahead home run from Grace Hollopeter.
GAME 1: Cleveland State 7, Purdue Fort Wayne 4 (8 innings)
Cleveland State took the first game of the doubleheader 7-4 in eight innings.
Gracie Brinkerhoff was relatively effective pitching from the starting role. She threw 4.1 innings in a no-decision, allowing six hits with three earned runs. Alanah Jones tossed 3.1 innings of relief, but suffered the loss.
Purdue Fort Wayne jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Bailey Manos was hit by a pitch, then worked around to third on a single from Tori Countryman. Hollopeter stepped in with two outs and doubled to right field to knock both in.
CSU took a lead with four runs in the fifth, but Purdue Fort Wayne quickly answered with two more runs off the bat of Hollopeter. This time, it was a single to center to score Manos and Countryman again.
Jones struck out one and forced two more into fly outs in the sixth and seventh innings to send the game to extras. CSU then took the game with a pair of homers in the eighth.
Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Melissa Holzopfel was very good from the circle striking out 18 despite allowing nine hits. She earned her 14th win of the year.
GAME 2: Purdue Fort Wayne 4, Cleveland State 3
In game two, it was Hollopeter that was the hero of the day. Tied 3-3, Hollopeter was the first due up in the sixth. She worked a 1-2 count then ripped the fourth pitch she saw over the left field wall. Brinkerhoff finished off the Vikings in the seventh, forcing a fly out and two ground outs to secure the victory.
Cleveland State took a 3-0 lead after three innings thanks to some pedestrian batting. Four singles and a double over the two frames put the Vikes up early.
Hollopeter got the offensive juices flowing in the fourth with a solo shot to left field. An inning later, freshman teammate Addison Zimpleman followed the junior leader's example with a homer to right field to bring home Kennedy Peckinpaugh. This tied up the contest at three. Then Hollopeter played like the Player of the Year candidate she is and hit the go-ahead home run.
Hollopeter finished the day with four hits and six RBIs.
The Mastodons finished with six hits, half of which were home runs. Cleveland State had nine hits, but eight of them were singles. The Vikings struggled to get anything extra out of Brinkerhoff, who picked up the win in her complete game. She had four strikeouts for the 'Dons to improve to 3-1.
Katie McDonald took the loss for CSU, falling to 3-5.
Cleveland State moved to 20-15, 15-3 Horizon League with the split. Purdue Fort Wayne moved to 13-20, 9-6. The Mastodons will visit Robert Morris this weekend for three games.
GAME 1: Cleveland State 7, Purdue Fort Wayne 4 (8 innings)
Cleveland State took the first game of the doubleheader 7-4 in eight innings.
Gracie Brinkerhoff was relatively effective pitching from the starting role. She threw 4.1 innings in a no-decision, allowing six hits with three earned runs. Alanah Jones tossed 3.1 innings of relief, but suffered the loss.
Purdue Fort Wayne jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Bailey Manos was hit by a pitch, then worked around to third on a single from Tori Countryman. Hollopeter stepped in with two outs and doubled to right field to knock both in.
CSU took a lead with four runs in the fifth, but Purdue Fort Wayne quickly answered with two more runs off the bat of Hollopeter. This time, it was a single to center to score Manos and Countryman again.
Jones struck out one and forced two more into fly outs in the sixth and seventh innings to send the game to extras. CSU then took the game with a pair of homers in the eighth.
Horizon League Pitcher of the Year Melissa Holzopfel was very good from the circle striking out 18 despite allowing nine hits. She earned her 14th win of the year.
GAME 2: Purdue Fort Wayne 4, Cleveland State 3
In game two, it was Hollopeter that was the hero of the day. Tied 3-3, Hollopeter was the first due up in the sixth. She worked a 1-2 count then ripped the fourth pitch she saw over the left field wall. Brinkerhoff finished off the Vikings in the seventh, forcing a fly out and two ground outs to secure the victory.
Cleveland State took a 3-0 lead after three innings thanks to some pedestrian batting. Four singles and a double over the two frames put the Vikes up early.
Hollopeter got the offensive juices flowing in the fourth with a solo shot to left field. An inning later, freshman teammate Addison Zimpleman followed the junior leader's example with a homer to right field to bring home Kennedy Peckinpaugh. This tied up the contest at three. Then Hollopeter played like the Player of the Year candidate she is and hit the go-ahead home run.
Hollopeter finished the day with four hits and six RBIs.
The Mastodons finished with six hits, half of which were home runs. Cleveland State had nine hits, but eight of them were singles. The Vikings struggled to get anything extra out of Brinkerhoff, who picked up the win in her complete game. She had four strikeouts for the 'Dons to improve to 3-1.
Katie McDonald took the loss for CSU, falling to 3-5.
Cleveland State moved to 20-15, 15-3 Horizon League with the split. Purdue Fort Wayne moved to 13-20, 9-6. The Mastodons will visit Robert Morris this weekend for three games.
~ Feel the Rumble ~
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Melissa Holzopfel (14-5)
L: Jones, Alanah (9-12)
Batting:
2B: Brooke Albaugh 1
HR: Brooke Albaugh 1 ; Emma Gilkerson 1
RBI: Brooke Albaugh 1 ; Delaney Ellis 1 ; Emma Gilkerson 2 ; Destiny Ruggiero 1 ; Sophie Spellman 1 ; Haley West 1
SH: Brooke Albaugh 1 ; Destiny Ruggiero 1
SF: Haley West 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brooke Albaugh 2 ; Sydney Shammo 1 ; Delaney Ellis 1 ; Emma Gilkerson 1 ; Marley Queen 1 ; Peyton Mueller Stenz 1
HBP: Peyton Mueller Stenz 1 ; Destiny Ruggiero 1 ; Sophie Spellman 1 ; Kylie Gorsuch 1
Batting:
2B: Hollopeter, Grace 1 ; Peckinpaugh, Kennedy 1
RBI: Hollopeter, Grace 4
Base Running:
RUNS: Manos, Bailey 2 ; Countryman, Tori 2
SB: Manos, Bailey 1
HBP: Manos, Bailey 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
4
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Softball
IF
/ Softball
C/UTL
/ Softball
RHP/OF
/ Softball
OF
/ Softball
RHP/IF
/ Softball
IF
/ SoftballHuge Dubs!
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