Softball's Taylor Wright Ties School Record For Strikeouts In A Game - NU Wins Pair In Florida

OVERVIEW – MILLERSVILLE AND MINNESOTA-CROOKSTON

SCORES: Northwood Timberwolves 2, Millersville Marauders 1; Northwood 10, Minn.-Crookston Golden Eagles 1

RECORDS: Northwood 10-5; Millersville 9-8 / Minn.-Crookston 4-16

LOCATION: Legends Way – Clermont, FL.

RECAP: Taylor Wright ties school record for strikeouts in a game as Northwood wins a pair of games Friday (March 16). 

MILLERSVILLE HIGHLIGHTS

• The story of the game proved to be the pitching from both sides. Northwood got on the board in the first inning on a Meghan Franz RBI groundout that was set up by a leadoff triple by Tara Gross.
• Millersville responded with a leadoff home run in the second inning to tie the game 1-1.
• In the bottom of the fourth, Northwood's game winning run came on a Lauren Castellon RBI single to center field to put Northwood on top for good.
• Northwood starting pitcher Taylor Wright was the story of the game, allowing one run while striking out 17. Over her final four innings, she struck out ten batters. Wright also struck out at least two hitters in all seven innings.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 2/4/0, Millersville: 1/6/2
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 7, Millersville: 9
• Winning Pitcher: Taylor Wright (6-2): 7.0 IP, 6 H, R, BB, 17 K
• Losing Pitcher: B. White (1-1): 4.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• T. Gross: 2-3, R, 3B
• Castellon: 1-3, RBI
• Franz: RBI

GAME NOTES

• Wright tied the school record for strikeouts in a game with 17. The school record was set by Lisa Shepard, who struck out 17 against Concordia – St. Paul March 2, 2006. Wright does now own the record for a seven-inning game – Shepard set the original mark in an eight-inning game.

MINN.-CROOKSTON HIGHLIGHTS

• The game was scoreless until the third inning when Northwood began to take control. The Timberwolves scored three runs in the inning, with an Abby Joseph RBI single leading the charge. Julia Gross capitalized on fielding error by the right fielder and used her speed to reach third base, while allowing Torriya Gray-Baker and Joseph to reach home and add two more runs to push NU's lead to 3-0.
• In the fifth inning, Julia Gross had a sacrifice fly to plate Sydni Pauley and make the score 4-0. Brooke Wauters later had a two-run RBI double to right center to make it 6-0 in Northwood's favor.
• NU closed out the game with a four-run sixth inning. Joseph, Gray-Baker, Mikayla Gronback and Wauters registering RBIs to push the Northwood lead to 10-1.
• Minnesota-Crookston scored their lone run of the game in the bottom of the fifth inning.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 10/11/1, Minn.-Crookston: 1/3/2
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 8, Minn.-Crookston: 6
• Winning Pitcher: Shayna Frank (4-2): 6.0 IP, 3 H, R, 2 BB, 8 K
• Losing Pitcher: P. Pitlick (0-5): 4.2 IP, 5 H, 6 R

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• T. Gross: 3-4, 2 R
• Sydni Pauley: 2-3, 2 R, 2B
• Wauters: 2-3, 3 RBI, 2B
• Joseph: 2-3, 2 RBI, R
• Gray-Baker: 1-2, 2 R, RBI, 2B

­UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will close out play at the PFX Spring Games with two games Saturday (March 17) at Hancock Park. Game one against Bloomsburg is at 9 am, and game two against Southern New Hampshire is set for 11:30 am.