Softball Downs #16 Winona St. 3-2 Before Topping Minot St. 9-6

CLERMONT, FLA. – The Northwood University softball team picked up a pair of wins in Florida on Thursday (March 10). NU downed No. 16 Winona State 3-2 before topping Minot State 9-6.

The Timberwolves are now 6-4 on the season. WSU is now 13-4, while MSU falls to 6-4 with the loss.

Freshman, Maggie Mullen (New Buffalo, Mich. / New Buffalo) used her defense to throw a shutout through seven innings. NU's offense wasn't able to capitalize and the game went into extra innings. NU led off with a run in the top of the seventh. The Warriors responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning to force a ninth. Ashley Lynn (Garden City, Mich.) hit a double to right field, knocking in one run. Two batters later, Andria Gietl (Plymouth, Mich. / Ladywood) singled to right scoring Lynn to put NU ahead 3-1 going into the bottom of the inning. Junior Vanessa Ewing (Maybee, Mich./Dundee) came in to close out the game with one run on two hits, leaving three runners on base.

For the game, the Warriors out-hit the Timberwolves 8-4. WSU stranded 14 runners on base. Lynn finished 2-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Mullen improves to 2-1 with the win.

In game two, the Beavers led off the game with a triple and homerun in the first inning to score four runs on four hits. NU responded with a single run in the bottom of the inning to trail 4-1 after one. After trailing 5-1 going into the bottom of the third, Jessica Tostrud (Kenosha, Wisc./Mary D. Bradford) reached on an error by the left fielder. Tostrud advanced to third after the wind took the ball deep into the corner of the field. Riley Ostapowicz (Grand Rapids, Mich. / West Catholic) followed with a hit to right field scoring Tostrud. After Ostapowicz stole second, Jennifer Wontorcik (Midland, Mich. / Midland) hit a deep ball to left center to plate Ostapowicz and brought the Timberwolves up to trail just 5-3.

NU allowed another run in the top of the sixth before having a big inning at the plate in the bottom of the inning. With one out and runners on first and second, Danielle Bartodziej (Westchester, Ill. / Nazareth Academy) drilled the ball just past the shortstop, picking up an RBI. Senior Lauren Look (Pinconning, Mich. / Pinconning (Cleveland State) followed that with a double to left center scoring another run and advancing Bartodziej to third. The next batter, Lynn, hit another ball through the left side to score a pair of runs putting NU ahead 7-6 with still one out. Hayley D'Avilar (Georgetown, Ont./Christ the King Catholic Secondary) then bunted for a hit putting two runners on base. With D'Avilar on second and Lynn on third, Tostrud hit a line drive up the middle to score both runners and put NU on top 9-6.

Ewing came into the game in the top of the sixth for Marissa Tiano (Warren, Mich. / Regina) to pick up her second save. Ewing struck out three of her nine batter faced, while Tiano faced 16 batters and also struck out three.

For the game, Lynn finished with two RBI's and a run, while D'Avilar went 2-4 and scored a run. Ostapowicz hit 3-4 and had a pair of RBI's and runs scored. Tostrud went 2-4 with two RBI's and a run scored, while Meghan Franz (Toledo, Ohio / Whitmer) hit 2-2 and scored a run. NU outhit the Beavers 14-9 and left nine runners on base.

Northwood plays Bridgeport and Minn. Duluth on Friday (March 11) at the NTC in Clermont, Fla. Game times are scheduled for 1 & 3 p.m.