DOWAGIAC — It was a battle of two games for the Dowagiac softball team Thursday afternoon.

The Chieftains dropped the first game to visiting Sturgis 19-4 before rebounding to edge the Trojans 4-3 in the nightcap.

The Chieftains are now 1-3 overall and 1-1 in Wolverine Conference games.

Sturgis is 3-3 and 1-1 in the Wolverine.

“Night and day difference from game one to game two tonight,” Dowagiac coach Mike Behnke said. “In game two, we played like the team I know we can be. Amiyah (Smith) pitched a heck of a game and we played great defense behind her. We need to work more on grinding out some at bats offensively but we took a step in the right direction.”

Smith went the distance, allowing one earned run on six hits with eight strikeouts and two walks.

The Chieftains finished with five hits, including a pair by Anna Dobberstein.

Smith, Jessie Hulett and Maddie Stockwell had the other hits for Dowagiac.

In the opener, the Chfieftains also had five hits, including doubles from Greta Whitaker, Mekenna Gaideski and Dobberstein. Dobberstein also drove in a pair of runs.

Hulett suffered the loss as he allowed six earned runs on 13 hits with three strikeouts.