Softball Splits To Open 2021 Season

OVERVIEW – ILLINOIS-SPRINGFIELD/LINDENWOOD

SCORES: Lindenwood Lions 2, Northwood Timberwolves 1/Northwood 15, Illinois-Springfield Prairie Stars 4

RECORDS: Northwood 1-1/Lindenwood 1-1/Illinois-Springfield 0-2

LOCATION: The Dome At the Parkway Bank Sports Complex – Des Plaines, Ill.

RECAP: Northwood softball opens their 2021 season by splitting a pair of games, dropping a 2-1 contest against Lindenwood before downing Illinois-Springfield 15-4 at the Lewis Dome Invitational Friday (February 19).

LINDENWOOD HIGHLIGHTS

• Both teams had chances to break through, but the score remained scoreless until the seventh inning.
• The Lions got three two-out hits to put a pair of runs on the board to go up 2-0.
• Northwood responded with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Grace Dutoi led the inning off with a double and later came home on an error to make the score 2-1.
• Later in the inning, Delanie Grundman had a double with a runner on first, but the potential tying run of the game was thrown out at the plate.

LINDENWOOD STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 1/5/1, Lindenwood: 2/8/2
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 4, Lindenwood: 4
• Winning Pitcher – Stormee Galka (1-0): 7 IP, 5 H, R, (0 ER), BB, 4 K
• Losing Pitcher – Shayna Frank (0-1): 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R (1 ER), BB, 2 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Dutoi: 2-3, 2B, R
• Lauren Castellon: 3B
• Grundman: 2B

ILLINOIS-SPRINGFIELD HIGHLIGHTS

• Northwood got on the board in the top of the first on a two-run double by Julia Gross.
• The Prairie Stars responded in a big way in the bottom of the inning, scoring four to lead 4-2 after one.
• NU took over thanks to a big fourth inning. Maddie Coulter got the Timberwolves going with a three-run homer to give Northwood back the lead at 5-4.
• Julia Gross then singled to score sister Tara to make the score 6-4.
• Haley Frank and Mikala Gronback each added RBI singles, which was followed by a Grundman RBI groundout to cap the seven-run fourth to put NU on top 9-4.
• NU added two more in the fifth on a single by Julia Gross that also resulted in an error to score a pair and make the score 11-4.
• Northwood added four more in the seventh. After NU scored on a wild pitch, Haley Frank had a triple and scored on the throw, which plated three runs in all to make the final 15-4.

ILLINOIS-SPRINGFIELD STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors Northwood: 15/12/0, Illinois-Springfield: 4/7/1
• Runners Left on Base: Northwood: 6, Illinois-Springfield: 4
• Winning Pitcher – Hailey Leister (1-0) 6 2/3 IP, 4 H, R, BB, 2 K
• Losing Pitcher – Addison Bryant (0-1), 7 IP, 11 H, 13 R (12 ER), 6 BB, 9 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Coulter: 1-2, HR, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 RBIs
• Tara Gross: 1-3, 3B, 3 R
• Julia Gross: 3-5, 2B, 3 RBIs
• Haley Frank: 2-4, 3B, 2 R, 3 RBIs

UP NEXT

• The Timberwolves will play two more games at the Lewis Dome Invitational Saturday (February 20), taking on host Lewis at 2:30 p.m. and Hillsdale at 7 p.m.