ONU RUN COMES TO AN END IN CCAC CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Saint Xavier | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 0 |
|
Olivet Nazarene | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| Final (8) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Olivet Nazarene | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 |
|
Roosevelt | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 |
CROWN POINT, Ind. – After taking down the Roosevelt Lakers 3-1 in the lower bracket finals to advance to the CCAC Championship Final, the Olivet Nazarene University softball team came up short in a 10-1 defeat against Saint Xavier to end the tournament run.
It took extra innings to decide who would face the Cougars in the championship round. The Lakers (23-16) made an early statement with a leadoff inside-the-park home run to put ONU in a hole early. The score would stay at 1-0 in favor of RU after both teams went scoreless through the next four innings.
Vannah Vaughan drew a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth and was promptly moved over on a Megan Mann groundout. Mallory O'Connor then laced a two-out RBI single up the middle that brought Vaughan home from second, getting the Tigers on the board and knotting it up at 1-1.
After a scoreless seventh inning, the game found its way into extras. The Tigers' bats came to life as they plated two runs to take command of the game. Kate Landis roped a leadoff double to center field, followed by a Faith Mikos triple to give ONU the lead. The Tigers then took advantage of a Laker error to plate Mikos.
Kori Fricke took care of business in the bottom half of the eighth to lock down the ONU win and advance them to the final. She pitched all eight innings, allowing one earned run on five hits and five strikeouts.
Needing two wins over Saint Xavier to win the tournament, the Tigers hung tough with the defending CCAC Tournament champions early. After the Cougars notched a run in the top half of the first, ONU responded with a run off the bat of Haley Dobson, who rocked an RBI double to right center that scored Faith Mikos.
However, that would prove to be the only run the Tigers would push across as Saint Xavier (33-12) retook the lead in third, and put up a crooked number in the fourth to end the game early.
Fricke was tagged with the loss, pitching 3 ⅔ innings with just three earned runs. Allie Timm and Emily Blucker both pitched in relief.
--ONU—
*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu