Softball Wins First, Falls In Game Two, Finishing Their G-MAC Tournament Run

OVERVIEW – Ashland & Tiffin

SCORES: Northwood 4, Ashland 0 / Northwood 5, Tiffin 8

RECORDS: Northwood 34-24 (15-9 G-MAC)/ Ashland 21-29 (13-11 G-MAC)/ Tiffin 23-25 (13-11 G-MAC)

LOCATION: Findlay, Ohio – Marathon Diamonds

RECAP: Northwood softball continued their G-MAC tournament run Thursday (May 4) with a morning round game versus Ashland following their loss to Trevecca Nazarene in the first round Wednesday. The Timberwolves would send Ashland home with a 4-0 victory. They would advance to play Tiffin in a wild 13-inning matchup that lasted three hours and 15 minutes. Northwood would later fall, 5-8, ending the G-MAC tournament 1-2.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Teams were scoreless moving to Northwood's half of the third, Karlie Moore would lead off the inning with a single to left before a sac bunt by Gianna Fantin moved to second. Jillian Krawcak 's single back up the middle gave Northwood runners on the corners giving Ashley Ziel the RBI one batter later, 1-0 NU.
• The Eagles later threatened in the fifth a walk and a single led off the inning before Hailey Leister went 1-2-3 to get out of the second and third jam.
• In the sixth, Madison Jordan added some insurance with her third home run of the year, this bomb over the left-center wall, 2-0 NU.
• The Timberwolves would continue adding insurance, capitalizing on two Ashland fielding miscues in center and at short and two walks to Fantin and Lundquist. Two runs would score to extend the Northwood lead, 4-0 going into the seventh.
• Leister would nail it down in the seventh, earning her 10^th shutout of the year, setting the new softball program record. The record was previously held by Lisa Shepard in 2005 when she had nine. 

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 4/6/1, Ashland 2/5/0
• Runners left on base: Northwood 8, Ashland 10
• Winning Pitcher – Hailey Leister (23-9), 7 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K
• Losing Pitcher – Josie Duncan (5-6), 5.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R (2 ER), 5 BB, 2 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Jordan: 1-2, HR, RBI, R, BB
• Moore: 1-1, RBI, R, BB
• Gale: 1-3, 2B, BB
• Lundquist: 1-2, R, BB

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• The Timberwolves would be the first to score as both teams went scoreless through three and a half innings. Delanie Gale led off the inning with a single, two batters later Lundquist walked with two outs. Karlie Moore came up clutch with a single through the right side to score the game's first run, 1-0 NU.
• One inning later Gale would lace a liner to the left-field corner with two outs to plate Krawczak from first, 2-0 NU.
• The Dragons' offense came to swing in the sixth, scoring four to take the lead via four hits including a two-run single, 2-4 TU.
• The Timberwolves made things exciting in the seventh, a one-out double down the right field line by Ziel put Northwood's first runner on. Two batters following with Ziel on the third Gale was hit by pitch. Jordan's bloop single would score one, bring NU within one, 3-4 TU.
• Brittany Steimel came in clutch grounding a ball down the right field line to tie it at four, 4-4.
• Moving to the thirteenth, neither team would budge a wild three innings saw neither team score the international tiebreaker runner from second. The Dragons would be the first to score with a single up the middle, 4-5 TU.
• The Dragons later added three more off two home runs, 4-8 TU.
• Northwood would bring it back within three via a fielding error from Tiffin, 5-8. This would end up being the final score, ending Northwood's G-MAC tournament run.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 8/11/2, Ashland 5/8/2
• Runners left on base: Northwood 16, Ashland 9
• Winning Pitcher – Claire Feldkamp (16-12), 13 IP, 8 H, 5 R (4 ER), 7 BB, 10 K
• Losing Pitcher – Brittani Mutter (3-6), 7 IP, 5 H, 4 R (3 ER), 0 BB, 5 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Gale: 2-5, 2B, RBI, R
• Ziel: 2-5, 2B, R, BB
• Moore: 1-5, RBI, BB
• Steimel: 1-4, 2B, RBI, R, BB

 UP NEXT

• Northwood will await their NCAA regional ranking in hopes of making the NCAA tournament. The NCAA selection show is set for May 8 at 10 a.m. ET.