The Alpena Community College softball team came achingly close to earning its first win of the season on Friday, but Delta managed to stay a few steps ahead of the Lumberjacks.

The Pioneers throttled ACC 23-1 in five innings in the first game of a doubleheader and edged the Lumberjacks 5-3 in the second game.

ACC (0-20) made it 5-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning of the nightcap when Kendra Lay singled to score Nikki Flannigan. Lay’s single kept the bases loaded for ACC with two outs, but Delta hung on for the win after the Pioneers got a fly ball for the final out.

After scoring a run in the third inning, the Lumberjacks went quietly in the next two innings before scoring a run in the sixth; an RBI single from Lay that scored Ashley Meyers. The run made it 5-2 after an error allowed the Pioneers to bring four runs across in the fifth inning.

Lay’s single in the sixth inning left two runners on with no outs, but Delta pitcher Jensen Tchorzynski struck out the next three batters to escape the jam.

In the seventh inning, Brooke Ellis struck out to start the inning, but Flannigan and Paige Chmura led off with singles before Tchorzynski struck out Myers. Kendra Cole walked to load the bases and Lay followed with a hit to score Flannigan.

Tchorzynski, a Hillman alumna, earned the win for Delta, allowing three runs on nine hits with 13 strikeouts and two walks.

A solo shot to center field by Blake Garner gave Delta a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but ACC answered back with a run in the third inning when Chmura scored on a passed ball.

Both teams traded zeroes until the fifth inning when Delta took the lead for good, thanks in part to an error that allowed three runs to score.

Meyers allowed five runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

The inspired effort by the Lumberjacks in the second game lay in contrast to the first game where seemingly nothing went right.

Meyers’ solo home run to left field in the fourth inning accounted for ACC’s only run of the game and ACC managed just three hits, including two by Lay.

Delta got to ACC early, scoring nine runs in the first inning and added 11 more in the second inning. Tchorzynski finished the game with four hits and an RBI. She had two more hits in the second game.

On the mound, Tchorzynski earned the win after allowing a run on three hits with a walk and eight strikeouts.

ACC will play doubleheaders with Henry Ford today and Sunday. Today’s games begin at 1 p.m. and Sunday’s games begin at 11 a.m.

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.