Softball Takes Two From Tiffin To Win Eighth In A Row

OVERVIEW – Tiffin Dragons

SCORES: Northwood 5, Tiffin 1 / Northwood 1, Tiffin 0

RECORDS: Northwood 13-4, Tiffin 11-14 / Northwood 14-4, Tiffin 11-15

LOCATION: Heminger Field - Tiffin, OH.

RECAP: After a week off of action the Northwood softball teams took a trip south to Tiffin, Ohio to square off with the Tiffin Dragons in a two-game series. The Timberwolves won their seventh and eighth in a row as they took two from the Dragons 5-1 and 1-0. Hailey Leister threw her first career shutout in the second match up.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• The Timberwolves scored early with three runs in the first. Delanie Grundman's laser to right-center scored Haley Frank from first, 1-0.
• Emily Mankel followed the double with an RBI single to score Grundman, 2-0. Mankel is currently in a 9-20 stretch over her past six games. She also advanced to second on a subsequent wild pitch.  
• A Brittany Steimel RBI shot up the middle scored Mankel from second, 3-0.
• Shayna Frank was her normal self, throwing yet another complete game to shut down the Dragon's offense. Frank struck out three of the first four Tiffin batters of the game.
• An Alexis Koehler double down the right field line was just out of the reach of Tiffin's right fielder scored Madison Jordan from second, 4-0.
• The Dragons scored one in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-1.
• Another Steimel RBI single in the sixth pushed the Wolves lead back to four, 5-1, and the Blue and White never looked back.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 5/8/0, Tiffin 1/3/1
• Runners left on base: Northwood 6, Tiffin 5
• Winning Pitcher: Shayna Frank (8-2) 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R (1 ER), 3 BB, 8 K
• Losing Pitcher: Shelbey Spurlock (0-1) 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 1 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Mankel: 2-4, RBI, 2 R
• Steimel: 2-3, 2 RBI
• Koehler: 2-3, RBI, 2B, SB
• Grundman: 1-4, RBI, R, 2B

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• A true pitcher's duel – Hailey Leister and Claire Feldkamp did not budge when it came to allowing either team to get anything going offensively. Both pitchers wouldn't allow a run in the seven scheduled innings.
• The Timberwolves managed just three hits through the first seven innings. It was much of the same for the Dragons which just managed five hits.
• In extras, Madison Jordan showed her clutch gene off with a leadoff triple to right center but was unable to score.
• The Timberwolves broke through for the first run of the game with a laser down the left field line by Brittany "Nuke" Steimel to score Delanie Grundman from second, 1-0. Brittany Steimel went 3-7 over the two games and totaled three RBIs.
• Leister finished what she started and closed out her nine-inning shutout. This was the first shutout of her career.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 1/7/1, Tiffin 0/5/0
• Runners left on base: Northwood 7, Tiffin 8
• Winning Pitcher: Hailey Leister (3-1) 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R (0 ER), 2 BB, 6 K
• Losing Pitcher: Claire Feldkamp (8-5) 9.0 IP, 7 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 9 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Hailey Leister: 9.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K
• Jordan: 1-1, 3B
• Steimel: 1-4, RBI, 2B
• Grundman: 2-4, R

UP NEXT

Northwood is set to start conference play this weekend at Wayne St. on Saturday, March 26 and at Saginaw Valley on Sunday, March 27. Games are scheduled at 1 & 3 PM versus the Warriors and 12 & 2 PM versus the Cardinals.