Softball Splits Series With Findlay To End Regular Season

OVERVIEW – Findlay

SCORES: Northwood 3, Findlay 2 / Northwood 9, Findlay 4

RECORDS: Northwood 33-22 (15-9 G-MAC)/ Findlay 29-14 (14-8 G-MAC)

LOCATION: Midland, Mich.- Fisher Stadium

RECAP: Northwood softball played the Oilers of Findlay Friday (April 29) to finish off the regular season. The Timberwolves would nail down a tight game one, 3-2, behind Hailey Leister's 22^nd win the season. Findlay's offense would later put up nine in game two to split the series with a 4-9 win.   

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Northwood jumped out to an early lead via Ashley Ziel's ninth homer of the year, 1-0 NU. Her blast down the left field line. The freshman now leads the G-MAC in home runs this season with nine.
• One inning later, Jillian Krawczak doubled Northwood's solo shot herself, this one to left 2-0 NU. This was Krawczak's second home run this season and the second of her career.
• The Timberwolves would tally a run in each of the first three innings. In the third, a two-out single of the middle from Gianna Fantin extended the lead to 3-0, NU.
• Findlay hit a two-run home run over the right field fence to tighten the game to 3-2  in the sixth.
• Leister would nail it down in the seventh via a fly out to left, following an Oiler runner advancing to third with two outs.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 3/8/0, Findlay 2/7/0
• Runners left on base: Northwood 7, Findlay 6
• Winning Pitcher – Hailey Leister (22-8) 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 7 K
• Losing Pitcher – Alexys Antal (1-2), 6 IP, 8 H, 3 R (3 ER), 2 BB, 3 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Jordan: 3-3, R
• Ziel: 2-2, HR, 2B, RBI, R
• Krawczak: 1-3, HR, RBI, R

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• Findlay started the scoring in the second via a solo shot to left, 0-1 UF.
• Later in the second, the Oilers would capitalize on an error, four straight singles, and a sac fly to tack on three more, 0-4 UF.
• The Timberwolves made it as close as they could in the third. Frank walk to lead off the inning before Delanie Gale single over the third base bag and Brittany Steimel smacked her second home run in two days over the left field foul pole, 3-4 UF. This was Steimel's fourth homer of the year, the 11^th of her career.
• Findlay extended their lead back to three with a hit batsman, a double to right center, and a two-out single back up the middle, 3-6 UF.
• The Oilers would add another on a sac bunt in the fifth, 3-7.
• Northwood tried to get a two-out rally going in the sixth as Ashlyn Lundquist and Krawczak singled to put runners on the corners. Senior Haley Frank lined a double down the third base line to score a Lundquist, 4-7 UF.
• The Oilers capped their day with a two-run homer to finish off the Timberwolves, 4-9 UF.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 4/7/1, Findlay 9/10/0
• Runners left on base: Northwood 7, Findlay 6
• Winning Pitcher: Molly Pfiffner (4-0) 4.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R (3 ER), 4 BB, 2 K
• Losing Pitcher: Emily Cox (3-1) 1.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 0 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Steimel: 1-4, HR, 3RBI, R
• Frank: 1-2, RBI, R
• Lundquist: 2-3, R

UP NEXT

• Softball is set to take on the G-MAC Tournament in Findlay on Wednesday (May 3). They await their seeding and opponent. Matchups are set to release Monday (May 1).