AKRON, Ohio- No. 5 Western Michigan got another impressive pitching performance from junior
Allyson Kus and the Bronco offense continued to produce big hits as the Broncos upset No. 1 seed and regular season champion Kent State 8-3 Saturday night.
The Flashes were the third team to be eliminated by WMU in the tournament as the Broncos have fought their way through the one-loss bracket. WMU also knocked out No. 3 Miami in the 10:30 a.m. game Friday morning, a dramatic 5-4 win, and handed No. 8 Ohio a 10-2 loss on Thursday.
The Broncos (24-25) will meet No. 4 Central Michigan Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. in a rematch of the opening game of the tournament in which CMU defeated WMU 2-0 Wednesday. Central Michigan fell into the one-loss bracket with a 3-2, eight-inning loss to No. 2 Ball State Friday. The winner of the Western Michigan-Central Michigan contest will go on to challenge Ball State for the tournament crown Saturday and will have to defeat the Cardinals, who have no losses in the tournament, twice.
The eight runs put up by Western Michigan was the most runs scored against Kent State since the Flashes suffered a 10-1 loss against Michigan, who was nationally ranked No. 3 at the time, on March 14.
Kus (10-9) threw a complete-game victory, striking out three. She allowed just one hit through five innings and retired 13 batters in a row during the game, as she struck out the final batter of the first inning and retired Flashes in order in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings.
After giving up a run in the top of the first, Western Michigan went on to score three runs in the bottom of the inning and exploded for four more in the second to take a commanding 7-1 lead after two frames.
Sophomore third baseman
Kelsea Cichocki had two hits and drove in four of those first seven runs. She got the Broncos on the board with an RBI single in the first and scorched a three-run double with the bases loaded in the second.
All three Bronco runs in the first were unearned as Kent State left fielder Kim Kirkpatrick dropped a fly ball off the bat of
Jenny Rohn with two outs. WMU sophomore designated player
Erin Binkowski provided a clutch two-run double to give WMU a 3-1 lead.
Junior second baseman
Melissa Palmer drew two walks, singled, had an RBI and scored all three times she was on base. Freshman
Geordin Craun notched a two-out RBI single in the fifth.
After giving up a leadoff single to the first batter of the game she faced, Kus did not allow another hit until the leadoff batter of the sixth. KSU center fielder Dani Ramos then drove in the run with a one-out triple and went on to score on an RBI single by Maddy Grimm for the final two Kent State runs.
Kus went on to close out the sixth with a line out and ground out. She gave up another single to start off the seventh, but completed the victory with a groundout and a pair of swinging strikeouts.
