Softball Sweeps Final Day Of Blue Bridge Battle Competition

OVERVIEW – Missouri S&T & Quincy

SCORES: Northwood 6, Missouri S&T 0 / Northwood 7, Quincy 3

RECORDS: Northwood 6-4, Missouri S&T 6-5 / Northwood 7-4, Quincy 5-7

LOCATION: Blue Bridge Battle – Evansville, Ind.

RECAP: Northwood softball traveled to Evansville, Ind. To play six games at the Blue Bridge Battle hosted by Kentucky Wesleyan. Starting the event 1-3, the Timberwolves finished strong, sweeping the final day of competition, defeating Missouri S&T (6-0) and Quincy (7-3).

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Northwood broke the scoring open in the third behind two, two-out singles to right field by Delanie Gale and Brittany Steimel, 2-0 NU. Haley Frank and Gale's stolen bases set up the run-scoring opportunities.
• NU's runners were aggressive in the fourth, with runners on first and second Frank grounded out to third, resulting in Jenna O'Berry scoring from second and Jillian Krawczak advancing to third, 3-0 NU. 
• An error cost the miners another runner allowing Krawczak to later score on an Ashley Ziel groundball, 4-0 NU.
• Frank led off the seventh with a walk before swiping second and third in route to her fourth stolen base of the day. A Madison Jordan broke the game open with a double to left center, scoring Frank and, pinch-runner, Kelsey Depault, from first, 6-0 NU.
• Hailey Leister pitched well again, getting two pop-ups and a groundout to finish off the Miners and earn herself the shutout.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 6/5/1, Missouri S&T 0/3/1
• Runners left on base: Northwood 6, Missouri S&T 4
• Winning Pitcher – Hailey Leister (4-2) 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 5 K
• Losing Pitcher – Julia Kanoy (1-2), 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R (2 ER), 5 BB, 3 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Frank: 1-2, RBI, 2 R, 2 BB, 4 SB
• Jordan: 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB
• Steimel: 1-3, RBI
• Gale: 1-3, RBI, R

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• Three straight singles from Ziel, Gale, and Steimel gave Northwood the early, 1-0 advantage in the first.
• Steimel would advance to second on the throw following her hit, giving NU runners on second and third with Madelin Skene up to bat. Skene would hit a sac fly to the center to score Gale from third, 2-0 NU.
• Quincy would tie it up in the fourth with a two-run blast, 2-2.
• For the second time during the game, Northwood would score following three straight singles. This time in the fourth by Jordan, Chloe Cooper, and Ashlyn Lundquist in the fifth, 3-2 NU.
• Back-and-forth scoring continued in the fifth as the Hawks would score on a sac bunt to even it at three.
• A Quincy error and an HBP in the seventh led to a Cooper two-RBI single to right, scoring O'Berry and Jordan, 5-3 NU. 
•  A single by Lundquist pushed Cooper to second before chaos ensued. Gianna Fantin would hit a ground ball, allowing Cooper to score following another QU error, making it 6-3 NU.
• Krawczak would tack on one more for the Timberwolves with a single to score Lundquist, 7-3 NU.
• Northwood would head to the seventh leading 7-3 where Hailey leister would earn the win, going three-up, three-down to finish the game. 

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 7/9/0, Quincy 3/6/2
• Runners left on base: Northwood 5, Quincy 4
• Winning Pitcher: Hailey Leister (5-2) 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 1 K
• Losing Pitcher: Brooklynn Fischer (2-5) 5.1 IP, 8 H, 7 R (4 ER), 0 BB, 1 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Cooper: 2-3, 2 RBI, R
• Lundquist: 2-3, RBI, R
• Jordan: 1-2, 2 R, HBP
• Krawczak: 1-1, RBI
• Gale: 1-4, R
• Ziel: 1-3, R
• Steimel: 1-3, RBI

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Frank's four stolen bases in game one versus Missouri S&T are the most in a game since Maddie Coulter had three versus Ferris St. in 2021.
• Leister threw her second shutout of the year in the victory over Missouri S&T.
• Cooper's single versus Quincy was the first hit of her collegiate career. Later that game, she also earned her first two career RBIs as she knocked in the game's two winning runs.

UP NEXT

• Northwood's softball team will gear up for the annual spring trip south, this year to Clermont, Fla. They will play 12 games over eight days beginning with Clarion and defending National Champions, Rogers St., on March 4 at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.