By By ERIKA PICKLES / Dowagiac Daily News
NILES - Edwardsburg's varsity softball team came to Niles with one goal, to beat the Vikings.
The Eddies, now 2-2 in the Lakeland Conference, 6-5 overall, were able to achieve that goal and picked up the doubleheader win at Vella Park Wednesday afternoon winning the first game 12-5 and the second game 10-5.
Niles was able to take an early 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but the second inning showed a much different team.
Niles made a lot of defensive errors that Edwardsburg took advantage of. A few hit balls between the legs, a throw error at second base and some powerful hitting by the Eddies allowed them to score seven runs in the top of the second to put them ahead 7-0.
The Vikings were able to send in two runs across in the bottom of the third and fourth innings, but the Eddies scored another three in the top of the fifth and one in the top of the sixth to give them the 12-5 first game win.
Jenna Bowman was the winning pitcher for Edwardsburg against Julie Kater.
Top hitters for Niles were Kayla Gross and Nicole Ignowski both going 2-4, Stephanie Schrader going 2-4 with a double and Kylee Mudd going 2-3.
Top hitters for the Eddies were Nikki Thompson with three hits and two RBIs, Sam Fritsche with three hits, a double and four RBIs, Kristen Toney and Amanda McCracken both with three hits and Michelle Hentz and Sam Scott both with two hits.
Niles was able to stay a little closer to the Eddies in the second game, but still wasn't able to pull ahead and take the win.
The score was tied at two going into the fourth inning when Edwardsburg scored two runs to put it back on top.
Another four runs in the top of the fifth gave the Eddies an 8-2 lead.
Niles made an attempt to come back in the bottom of the fifth, but were only able to score three runs.
Another two in the top of the seventh was enough to give the Lady Eddies a five point lead and the 10-5 win.
Kelli Kretchman was the winning pitcher for Edwardsburg against Mudd.
Top hitters for the Vikes were Schrader and Gross both with a double.
Edwardsburg top hitters were Kretchman and Bowman both with two hits, Thompson with two hits and two RBIs and Fritsche with three hits and four RBIs.