Softball Splits In Florida

CLERMONT, FLA. – The Northwood University softball team splits a pair of games in Florida on Tuesday afternoon (March 8). NU dropped a 3-0 contest to Indiana (Pa.) before earning a 6-0 win over Lees-McRae.

The Timberwolves are now 4-4 on the season. IUP is 5-2, while LMC stands at 4-16.

NU left five runners on base in the first three innings and IUP was able to capitalize, plating a run in the second and fourth innings. Neither team was able to generate much offense through the next two innings, before the Timberwolves stranded another pair of runners in the sixth. Indiana (Pa.) scored their final run in the seventh for the 3-0 win.

Ashley Lynn (Garden City, Mich.) went 2-4, while Riley Ostapowicz (Grand Rapids, Mich. / West Catholic) and Danielle Bartodziej (Westchester, Ill. / Nazareth Academy) each registered a hit. Both teams finished with four hits and a single error in the game. Vanessa Ewing (Maybee, Mich./Dundee) struck out eight batters in the loss.

Neither team was able to generate much offense in game two, as 15 of the first 16 batters of the game were outs. NU turned the tables in the fourth, scoring three runs on four hits and leaving two runners on base. Jessica Tostrud (Kenosha, Wisc./Mary D. Bradford) picked up an RBI on a single to center field, scoring Hayley D'Avilar (Georgetown, Ont./Christ the King Catholic Secondary). Following that play, Meghan Franz (Toledo, Ohio / Whitmer) scored Tostrud and Andria Gietl (Plymouth, Mich. / Ladywood) on her single up the middle.

With a 3-0 lead going into the fifth, D'Avilar tripled to right center to score Brooke Wauters (St. Clare Shores, Mich./Lakeshore) before D'Avilar scored on a Gietl RBI. Northwood was able to plate another run in the seventh for a 6-0 win.

NU's defense didn't allow a single hit in the final three innings, as freshman Maggie Mullen (New Buffalo, Mich. / New Buffalo) registered six strikeouts in her first career win. Northwood out-hit Lees-McRae 9-5.

Lynn and D'Avilar each finished the game with a triple. D'Avilar also scored two runs and went 2-3, while Courtney Wensley (Dearborn, Mich. / Dearborn) hit 2-4 with an RBI. Tostrud finished 2-3 with an RBI and a scored run.

Northwood plays Winona St. and Minot St. on Thursday (March 10) at the NTC in Clermont, Fla. Game times are scheduled for 9 & 11 a.m.