TIGERS FALTER IN SECOND DAY OF TUCSON INVITATIONAL

TUCSON, Ariz. – After picking up a win on their first day of their spring break trip in Arizona, the Olivet Nazarene University softball team faltered with an 8-3 loss to William Penn and a 6-5 extra inning setback to Park-Gilbert in their second day of the Tucson Invitational played at Lincoln Park.

A big inning late in the game cost ONU in the opener against WPU. The Tigers took control of the game right out of the gate when Mallory O'Connor and Avery Osborn staked the team to an early 2-0 lead with RBI singles to left field in the top of the first inning. Allie Timm then shut down the Statesmen on the mound with four shutout frames on just three hits and striking out four along the way.

But when William Penn (8-11) finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning, they did so by unloading five runs in the frame to take the lead. A pinch-running Meegan Randall swiped home plate on a double steal to cut the lead to two in the sixth inning, but the Statesmen tacked on three more runs in their half of the sixth to put the game out of reach.

Osborn led ONU on offense, going 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI. Vannah Vaughan, Margaret Landis, and O'Connor each added a hit. Timm was given the loss as the starter.

The nightcap was a back-and-forth affair. After the Buccaneers (4-14) jumped out to 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Vaughan wheeled home on an error before Bender plated Carissa Bombardiere on an RBI groundout to knot the game.

Landis gave ONU the lead in the bottom of the third, plating a run and getting on first off a Buccaneer error, then completing a double steal with Bombardiere to make it 4-2 Tigers. But Park-Gilbert responded with three unanswered run over the next four finnings to take a one-run advantage into the bottom of the seventh.

Landis kept the game alive with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to tie the score and force extra innings, but the Buccaneers successfully scored their placed runner and the Tigers could not, suffering the 6-5 defeat.

Vaughan and Bombardiere each recorded two hits and scored two runs apiece. They were the only two Tigers to record a hit. Olivia Flinn only allowed three earned runs as the starter but was tagged with the loss.

The Tigers will continue their Arizona trip with a non-conference doubleheader against Viterbo Wednesday.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu