The Malone University softball team dropped a pair of home GLIAC contests to visiting Northwood University (MI) by scores of 13-5 and 10-5 Tuesday in a doubleheader that was played on the campus of the University of Findlay.
 
Malone will next compete in a home doubleheader, at Pioneer Field, tomorrow (Wednesday) as the Pioneers host Lake Erie College at 3:30 p.m.
 
Game One Recap
 
After Northwood registered a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and then three more runs in the second frame to take a 5-0 lead, the Pioneers got on the board with one run as leftfielder Erika Gerber notched an RBI double.
 
The big inning for NU came in the top of the third when the Timberwolves racked up seven runs to take a 12-1 advantage.  The Pioneers would score a run in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Allison Mercado and then followed that up with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth as shortstop Alexa Holztrager swatted a three-run homer, which cut the lead to 12-5.  NU closed out the scoring in the top of the seventh with one more run to collect the 13-5 win.
 
In addition to Holztrager's two hits, catcher Emily Isla also tallied a pair of hits for the Pioneers.
 
Stephanie Byrne suffered the loss for Malone as she pitched 2.0 innings (7 hits, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) before Julie Ward came on to pitch five innings of relief (10 hits, 7 ER).
 
Game Two Recap
 
Malone plated two runs in the top of the first frame as Isla slammed a two-run homer before the Timberwolves scored three runs of their own in the bottom of the inning  to take a 3-2 lead.  NU then scored three more in the second and four runs in the third to grab a 10-2 lead.
 
The Pioneers went on to score two more runs in the top of the fifth as Isla pocketed two more RBI's on a double to left field.  Malone closed out the scoring in the top of the sixth as third baseman Shelby Hulin tallied an RBI single.
 
Isla, who had four RBI's in the game, Hulin and Mercado each registered two hits in the contest.
 
Pioneer pitcher Shealynn Zimnick took the loss in 2 2/3 innings of work (8 hits, 6 ER) while Jillian Coyle came on for 3 1/3 innings of solid relief (0 hits, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K).