Softball Loses Pair At Midwest Crossover

OVERVIEW – SOUTHERN INDIANA/UINDY

SCORES:  Southern Indiana Screaming Eagles 13, Northwood 11, UINDY Greyhounds 7, Northwood 1

RECORDS: Northwood 1-3, Southern Indiana 5-0, UINDY 9-4

LOCATION: Evansville, Ind. (University of Southern Indiana – Midwest Region Crossover)  

RECAP: Northwood loses a pair of games at the Midwest Region Crossover, falling to host Southern Indiana 13-11 before dropping a 7-1 contest to UINDY Saturday afternoon (February 25). 

SOUTHERN INDIANA/NORTHWOOD HIGHLIGHTS

• Coming of a 17-2 win over Ferris State, Southern Indiana's offense got rolling in the second inning. The Screaming Eagles scored the second, three in the third and two more in the fourth to lead 8-0 heading to bottom of the fourth inning.
• The Timberwolves offense put together a big rally in the fourth inning to get back into the game. Northwood plated seven runs on four hits in the inning, which started with a Sydni Pauley home run. Danielle Bartodziej had an RBI single, followed by Hayley D'Avilar getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The rally was capped off by a grand slam by Riley Ostapowicz to make the score 8-7 heading to the fifth.
• Northwood's rally did not slow down the USI offense, as the Screaming Eagles scored two more in the fifth and three in the sixth to make the score 13-seven.
• The Timberwolves did not quit, plating four runs in the sixth on one hit. After two walks and an error, Pauley hit a grand slam – Northwood's second slam of the game and Pauley's second home run of the game. That cut the USI lead down to 13-11 heading to the seventh inning.
• After the game saw both offenses perform at a high level, the two teams went scoreless in the seventh to give Southern Indiana the win.

SOUTHERN INDIANA/NORTHWOOD STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Southern Indiana: 13/14/2, Northwood: 11/6/3
• Runners Left on Base: Southern Indiana: 10, Northwood: 4
• Winning Pitcher: Jessica Leonhardt (3-0): 3 IP, 5 ER, 3 K
• Losing Pitcher: Taylor Wright (1-1): 2 IP, 3 R (0 ER)

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Pauley: 2-4, 2 HR (4), 2 R, 5 RBI
• Ostapowicz: 1-2, HR, 2 BB, 2 R, 4 RBI

GAME 1 NOTES

• Northwood had hit just two grand slams in the last two seasons (one is 2015, one in 2016) before hitting two in the game against USI.

UINDY/NORTHWOOD HIGHLIGHTS

• The game was scoreless in the bottom of the third inning when the Greyhounds broke through with three unearned runs.
• Northwood got on the board in the top of the fourth inning thanks to a solo home run by Andria Gietl.
• That would prove to be NU's final run of the day, however, as the Timberwolves were able to register just two singles over the final three innings.
• UINDY scored one in the fifth and three in the sixth to close out the win.

UINDY/NORTHWOOD STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood: 1/7/2, UINDY: 7/10/1
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 6, UINDY: 9
• Winning Pitcher:  Lauren Honkomp (7-1) 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 9 K
• Losing Pitcher: Vanessa Ewing (0-1) 6 IP, 10 H, 7 R (4 ER), 4 BB, 12 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Gietl: 1-3, HR (1), 1 R, 1 RBI
• Courtney Wensley: 2-3

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will finish play at the crossover Sunday with a pair of games. Northwood will face McKendree at 11 a.m. and Truman at 1 p.m.