May 6, 2021, GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Community College softball team closed out a season that started slowly, but showed promise for next year with many players likely to return.
The team dropped a pair of games to Lake Michigan College to end the season with a 6-26 record, finishing in eighth place in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association’s Western Conference.
The Red Hawks won the games 9-8 and 6-2. In the first game, the Red Hawks battled back from an 8-7 seventh-inning deficit to win the first game 9-8, and were 6-2 winner in the night cap.
GRCC developed power as the season progressed. Marlo Abbey and Taylor Cross both hit home runs in the double header, following a twin bill against Glen Oaks where the team hit a season high seven home runs, including two each from Alexis Nguyen and Mariah Redding.
Five members of the team finished batting .300 or better for the season, led by second-year player Brooklynne Siewertsen, who batted .373. The third basemen also led the team with 31 hits, five stolen bases and an on base percentage of .418. The slugger also struck out just once in 100 plate appearances.
Sophomore Alexa Abrahamson was second on the team with a .319 batting average as well as being the Raiders ace on the mound with 102.2 innings pitched and a 3-1 strikeout to walk ratio with 63 strikeouts and only 20 walks. Abrahamson also had a slugging percentage of .553, good for second best on the team.
On the mound, she pitched a two-hit shutout to preserve a 1-0 victory over Ancilla College on April 24. Abrahamson pitched a no-hitter in 2019.
Nguyen, Cross and Krin Beach played and started in all 32 games this season.
Nguyen led the team in many categories, topping all Raiders with six homers, 30 runs, eight doubles, two triples, 20 RBI and a 628-slugging percentage.
Cross finished the season with a .303 average and was second on the team with five home runs and 19 RBI, and third with a .506 slugging percentage. Haley Van Huis finished at a solid .306 clip and finished with the second most hits with 30, and second in doubles with four.