WARREN, Mich. – The 2023 Macomb Softball season concluded Tuesday (May 9) with a home doubleheader split against the Ocelots of Schoolcraft College. The 1-1 day shifted the Monarchs record to 22-20 overall and 16-14 in MCCAA Eastern Conference play. The 22 wins ties for the fourth most wins in a season dating back to 2013 and makes it back-to-back seasons with 20-plus wins for seventh year head coach Jim Beard and the Monarchs.

GAME ONE: Macomb 12, Schoolcraft 7
The Monarchs won game one by a 12-7 final as the bats remained hot late in the season. Elizabeth Townsend (New Baltimore, Mich./Anchor Bay) put an exclamation point on her storybook career by hitting her 27^th home run in Macomb uniform. The 27 home runs are a program record (previous record was 18). Townsend's 27^th and final home run of her Macomb career was an opposite field, three-run shot that would stand as the game-winning drive in Tuesday's opener. The career home run leader paced the Monarchs in the opener with a perfect 3-for-3 performance that included a team-best five RBIs.

Katelyn Thomas (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) joined Townsend with a big fly of her own, a two-run home run in the third inning that gave the Monarchs a 4-0 lead. Danielle Erickson (Sterling Heights, Mich./Sterling Heights) got the scoring started an inning before Thomas went deep as the sophomore hit a two-RBI single through the right side of the infield in the bottom of the second. Both Erickson and Thomas finished with pair of RBIs to help lead the Monarchs to the 12-7 win in the opener. With another strong day, Erickson finished alongside Townsend as two of the best pure hitters in the storied history of Macomb Softball. 

While Townsend led the way with three hits, six other Monarchs recorded multiple hit games as Erickson and Thomas were joined by Brynn Beyer (Macomb, Mich./L'Anse Creuse North), Emma Lautenbach (Warren, Mich./Center Line), Samantha Scott (Romeo, Mich./Eisenhower) and Rylee Thomas (Harrison Twp., Mich./L'Anse Creuse) with two hits each.

Carly Sierzenga (Macomb, Mich./Dakota) got the start and fanned a pair of Ocelots in 3.1 innings, while Katelynn Fraser (Macomb, Mich./Eisenhower) came on for the final 3.2 innings of work and struck out two. Fraser would get the win after the Monarchs took the lead late in Tuesday's opener, her fifth of the season.

GAME TWO: Schoolcraft 3, Macomb 2
After posting 12 runs on 17 hits in the opener, the bats cooled in game two as the Monarchs recorded seven hits, led by two each off the bats of Samantha Scott and Savanna Clark (St. Clair, Mich./St. Clair). Katelyn Thomas and Elizabeth Townsend drove in a run each to account for the Monarchs two runs, while Rylee Thomas had the lone extra-base hit with a double.

Allison Vogt (Chesterfield, Mich./Anchor Bay) started game two and didn't give up an earned run in seven innings pitched. Vogt ended her first season in a Monarch uniform with a team-best 12 wins.

THANK YOU, SOPHOMORES!
Thank you, 2023 sophomore class, for the long list of memories you created during your time in the Macomb Blue & White. We can't thank you enough and wish you nothing but continued success! The 2023 Sophomore Class: Jenna Alessandrini, Emma Lautenbach, Natalie Lerchenfeld, Samantha Scott, Carly Sierzenga, Rylee Thomas, Danielle Erickson and Elizabeth Townsend.

Once a Monarch, Always a Monarch!