DOWAGIAC — Good teams have a combination of solid pitching, timely hitting and good defense.

Edwardsburg put all three of those things on display in sweeping host Dowagiac 11-0 and 14-1 in a Wolverine Conference doubleheader Tuesday.

The Eddies got great pitching from all three hurlers.

Edwardsburg finished with 26 hits in the doubleheader, which led to the 25 runs.

“We had a good day with our pitching and our hitting,” said Edwardsburg coach Dean Dixon. “We have a few things to clean up defensively.”

Ashley Pion tossed a two-hitter in winning the opening game.

In the opener, Bailey Anson homered, while Kaitlynne Allen doubled for the Eddies.

In the nightcap, Carly Tittle picked up the win with relief help from Hannah Hartline. The pair scattered six Dowagiac hits.

Offensively for Edwardsburg, Allen tripled, while Anson, Ella Castelucci, Alyssa Gearhart and McKenna Shoupe all doubled.

Dowagiac’s Anna Dobberstein doubled for one of the Chieftains’ two hits.

Veteran Dowagiac coach Mike Behnke, despite being frustrated, is seeing signs of improvement from his team that has just four seniors on a roster that includes three sophomores and a pair of freshman to go along with five juniors.

“The scores might not indicate it tonight, but I thought we threw the ball much better and we played better defense,” Behnke said. “They (Edwardsburg) are a good hitting team. I do think we pitched a little better and a think we were a little bit better defensively than we were last Friday. But it is still not good enough if we are going to win games or even compete in games.”

Dowagiac’s bats were on fire against Otsego last Friday night, but the Trojans do not have a pitcher like Pion, who struck out eight and walked just one.

“Tonight, we just ran into a buzzsaw,” Behnke said. “The Pion girl is the first good, great pitcher we have faced this year. We scored 18 runs on Friday, so our bats were going pretty well there.”

In order to continue to get better, Behnke said his squad must focus on making plays on defense.

“Defensively we just need to get better and just field the routine plays,” he said. “We cannot give teams four or five outs an inning, which shows on the scoreboard.”
Dowagiac hits the road for a Wolverine Conference doubleheader at Plainwell Friday night.