ONU TAKES SPLIT ON SECOND DAY OF CCAC SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

CROWN POINT, Ind. – After picking up a 14-inning in the first game of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) Tournament yesterday, the Olivet Nazarene University softball team settled for a split in a pair of winners' bracket games on day two at the Crown Point Sportsplex. 

After piecing together a late rally to pull off a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over St. Francis (Ill.) in their second-round matchup, the Tigers fell 5-0 to Saint Xavier in the winners' bracket semifinal.

The Fighting Saints, who entered the CCAC Tournament as the No., 2 seed, jumped out to an early lead with two quick runs in the top of the first. They would tack on another in the third to take a 3-0 advantage before ONU got on the board with a pair of runs in their half of the frame. Margaret Landis roped an RBI double to left that brought Carissa Bombardiere all the way home from first and then was promptly plated on an RBI single from Mallory O'Connor in the next at-bat.

St. Francis quickly responded with two runs in the top of the fourth to extend their lead back to three. Landis came up with another big hit in the fifth inning to reignite the offense, scoring Zoe Oshiro with an RBI single to cut the deficit to two.

The sixth inning is where the Tigers' offense clicked, putting up a crooked three runs on the scoreboard to jump in front. Allie Timm kicked off the scoring with an RBI single to right, and with two outs on the board, Olivia Flinn came through with a clutch RBI single up the middle to score Vannah Vaughan. Oshiro followed her up with another RBI single to put the Tigers in front 6-5.

That is where the score would hold as Timm retired the Saints in order in the top of the seventh to lock down the ONU win. She went five innings in relief, allowing two earned runs on five hits to pick up the win.

The offense failed to click in the game against Saint Xavier, getting left off the scoreboard in the 5-0 setback. The Cougars, who won the CCAC regular-season title with a league record of 12-4, jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first and never looked back to advance to the CCAC Tournament Championship game.

Landis was the only Tiger to record a hit in the loss, recording a multi-hit game by going 2-for-3 at the dish. Flinn was given the loss as the ONU starter.

The loss drops the Tigers to the bottom bracket where they will face the winner between St. Francis and Roosevelt for the right to play Saint Xavier in the CCAC Championship series Saturday afternoon.

--ONU—

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