McFarlin becomes fifth Polar Bear to join 100-Hit Club this season in sweep of Ohio Wesleyan

April 29, 2008

By Steven Wright

ADA — Junior Matti McFarlin jacked two home runs on the day to become the fifth member of the Ohio Northern softball team to join the 100-Hit Club this season, as the Polar Bears defeated Ohio Wesleyan 3-1 and 11-3 in five innings Tuesday evening at the ONU Softball Field.

The Polar Bears improve their record to 27-11 on the season, while the Bishops fall below .500 at 17-19.

McFarlin joins Lynda Thomas, Tina Mangola, Liz Decima and Mandi Fought as the other players to reach the 100-hit plateau this season.

ONU displayed much power on the day, hitting five total home runs.

In Game 1, a solo shot by McFarlin to lead off the fourth inning and a two run homer by Decima in the fifth inning provided all the offense for Ohio Northern.

Northern used nine runs in the first inning of Game 2 to build a commanding 9-1 lead that it would never surrender.

After Fought reached on an error and stole second, Mangola hit a triple to right field to begin the scoring for the Polar Bears.

Two batters later, McFarlin hit her second home run of the afternoon to join the 100-Hit Club.

Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Katie Salay singled up the middle to bring home two more runs and make the score 5-0.

Fought followed Salay with an RBI-single through the left side that score Abby Majoy, and Mangola hit a three-run shot in the next at bat to cap off the nine-run first inning.

After shutting the Bishops out in the top of the second, Goubeaux got in on the home run action with a solo blast to center field with one out in the inning, making it a 10-1 ballgame through two innings.

OWU chipped away at the lead, scoring one run in the top of the fourth and top of the fifth to make it 10-3, but McFarlin hit a walk-off single to score Mangola from second and win the game by way of the NCAA’s 8-run rule 11-3.

Katie Keslar (2-0) pitched a total of nine innings on the day, giving up only five hits and one earned run. She threw a complete-game two-hitter to earn the win in the first game and allowed only one run in two innings as the starter in game two.

Stephanie Inkrott (14-5) threw the final three innings of Game 2 to earn the win.

Rachel Seibel (11-9) lost Game 1 and Catrice Mayweather (6-10) lost Game 2 for Ohio Wesleyan.

“Katie Keslar did a real nice job for us on the mound today,” said head coach Annette Shepherd. “All around we really got our bats going, as was evident by the five home runs.”

McFarlin’s home runs were her first two of the year, while Mangola hit her team-leading tenth. Decima and Goubeaux each hit their fifth of the season.

Mangola went 5-for-7 on the day and Goubeaux went 2-for 4, extending her hitting streak to 15 games.

The Polar Bears will participate in the OAC Tournament as the No. 3 seed on Friday and Saturday. Play begins at 3 pm on Friday against No. 2 seed Mount Union.