Solid pitching, long ball lead Softball to sweep of Wilmington

April 15, 2008

By Tim Glon

ADA — Dominant pitching performances by freshman Katie Keslar and sophomore Cortney Cash propelled the Ohio Northern softball team to a doubleheader sweep over Wilmington 8-1 and 5-0 Tuesday afternoon at the ONU Softball Field.

The pair of victories improves Northern’s record to 20-8 overall and 9-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference, while Wilmington falls to 6-22, 0-10.

In her first career start, Keslar (1-0) pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only four hits and striking out five in Game 2.

Keslar had great command of the strike zone all game, as she threw 57 strikes and only 14 balls.

Cash (10-4) also pitched a complete game in Game 1 without giving up an earned run.

The Polar Bears jumped on the Quakers early in the first game, scoring three runs in the first without putting a ball in play.

Abby Majoy drew a bases loaded walk to plate the first run, and a throwing error by the catcher allowed the next two runs to score.

In the second, Mandi Fought hit singled through the right side of the infield to score Lisa Goltry and give the Polar Bears a 4-0 lead.

The Quakers responded with a run in the top of the third, but ONU answered with a run in the bottom of third on a Majoy sacrifice fly.

Northern went on to score one in the fifth and two in the sixth to preserve the Game 1 victory.

The Polar Bears again scored four runs through the first two innings of Game 2, giving Keslar all the run support she needed to win the game.

Tina Mangola hit a solo home run in the top of the first inning to right center field followed by a two-run single to center by Majoy, scoring Liz Decima and Katie Salay.

Fought hit a one hop double to the left field fence to plate Danielle Goubeaux in the second.

Northern’s scoring was capped off in the bottom of the sixth inning by Decima who hit her fourth home run of the season over the left field fence.

“With our bats relatively quiet, Keslar and Cash pitched great games to lead us to the sweep,” said head coach Annette Shepherd. “Allowing no earned runs in two games is a great accomplishment and our defense played really well, also.”

The Polar Bears committed only one error on the day compared to nine for the Quakers.

Decima, Goubeaux and Courtney Porter all had three hits on the day to lead the offense.

Ohio Northern will travel to Mount Union on Saturday to play the second-place team in the OAC in a doubleheader at 1 pm.