No. 5 Softball sweeps Marietta 7-0, 15-5; Improves to 6-0 in OAC action
By Steve Green
MARIETTA – The No.5 Ohio Northern softball team remained undefeated in the Ohio Athletic Conference play as sophomore Kimi Blewett and senior All-American Tina Mangola both hit home runs to pace Northern to 7-0 and 15-5 wins in a doubleheader sweep of host Marietta on Saturday.
With the win, the Polar Bears improve to 23-1 overall and 6-0 in the OAC, while Marietta falls to 14-9 overall and 2-4 in the OAC.
The wins stretch Northern's win streak to 20 games in a row, with their last loss coming against Augustana (Ill.) on March 4th.
Game One saw a phenomenal pitching effort from senior Courtney Cash as Cash threw a 5-hit shutout to improve to 12-1 on the season.Northern's all time strikeout leader threw another seven strike outs to stifle Marietta's offense.
Blewett's two run homer in the third put the Polar Bears up 3-0 early.
Two more runs would follow in the fourth as sophomore Cassie Gaye hit an RBI double and senior Mandi Fought had a RBI single.
Fought went 4-4 in the first game with one RBI.
Game Two saw Northern's offense really come alive as they scored in every inning of the 15-5 5-inning game.
Sophomore pitcher Maggie Molnar improved to a perfect 8-0 on the season after giving up one run on two hits while pitching two and a third innings.
Leading 5-4 going into the top of the fourth the offense came alive, hammering Marietta for nine runs.
Tina Mangola went 3-4 in the game with three runs scored and three runs batted in, including a solo home run in the third inning.
The Polar Bears return to action on Wednesday at 3:30 as they host Heidelberg in an OAC double header at the ONU Softball Field.
