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CLEVELAND, Ohio - A three-run first inning pushed Cleveland State past Detroit, 3-2, in the series finale at Viking Field on Wednesday (May 2). The win completed CSU's three-game sweep of the Titans.
Winners in three in a row, the Vikings are now 17-36 overall and 9-12 in Horizon League play. Detroit - 10-39 overall and 2-18 in the league - has lost 12 straight.
Dara Toman was walked by Detroit starter Karyn McCarty to start the Viking first and she was picked off but made it safely to second base. Megan Bashak singled right back up the middle to bring in Toman and quickly give the Vikings a one-run lead.
Andrea Nagy followed the Bashak single with a homer to straight away center field - her second long ball of the season - to expand the lead to three.
With Sara Shields locked in, that was all the offense Cleveland State would need to provide.
Kat Hoffman - a high school teammate of Nena Doran - doubled for Detroit in the third and came in to score on a Dani Holmes single to make it a 3-1 game. Dani is the younger sister of CSU pitcher Brandy Holmes.
Shields allowed a run in the fifth on a solo home run by Detroit center field Alyssa Schaub to make it a one-run game but the Titans could not complete the comeback.
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The winner in all three games, Shields - now 13-13 overall - allowed just six hits and walked a pair in her complete game effort. Her 10 strikeouts came up one shy of her career-high 11 that she set against Nebraska-Omaha at the Rebel Games back on March 12.
McCarty wasn't as fortunate as Shields and took the loss to slide to 3-16. She scattered five hits and walked two but was done in by the three-run first.
With the walk in the first inning, Toman has now reached safely in 33 consecutive games.
Cleveland State will return to action on Friday (May 4) when league-leader Valparaiso visits Viking Field. The Crusaders need to win one game in the series to win the outright Horizon League regular season title.
A single game will be played Friday evening at 5:00 p.m. and the regular season concludes with a doubleheader on Saturday (May 5) that begins at 12:00 p.m. All three games will be covered with free live stats, available by visiting the Cleveland State softball schedule page. Free Webcasts will also available on the Horizon League Network, available by clicking here.
The Cleveland State seniors will be honored in a pre-game ceremony prior to Saturday's doubleheader as part of 'Senior Day'.