Softball Splits On Final Day Of Music City Invitational

OVERVIEW – Parkside & Harding

SCORES: Northwood 6, Parkside 2 / Northwood 1, Harding 5

RECORDS: Northwood 4-0, Parkside 1-4 / Northwood 4-1, Harding 12-2

LOCATION: Music City Invitational - Smyrna, Tenn.

RECAP: Northwood softball finished its trip to Tennessee with a doubleheader versus Parkside and Harding. A late-game surge by the Timberwolves gave them the victory over Parkside in game one. Game two versus Harding was a tight one as the score was 3-1 heading into the fifth. The Timberwolves would later fall to the Bison 5-1.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Northwood threatened in the first getting their first three batters aboard, but a Parkside double play would end the rally as the inning would end, still 0-0.
• Parkside would score first on a sac fly to left field later in the second, 0-1 UWP.
• In the fourth, pinch hitter Madelin Skene doubled to deep center to put runners on second and third. A walk to Lauren Bennett would load the bases before two fielder's choices resulted in a run, 1-1.
• Later in the fourth, a leadoff triple for Parkside left a woman on third and no one out. Brittani Mutter would leave the runner stranded, getting a softball line drive out to first, followed by two strikeouts to keep the score deadlocked at one. 
• Northwood would grab the momentum in the fifth. Leadoff singles by Ashley Ziel and Brittany Steimel set up a bunt single by Delanie Gale to load the bases with no outs.
• Madison Jordan's infield single to second continued the fifth-inning rally as Ziel beat the throw home, keeping the bases loaded, 2-1 NU.
• Northwood's fifth straight hit to open the fifth was a two-run single by Ashlyn Lundquist to give the Wolves the 4-1 advantage.
• Gianna Fantin's infield single, followed by a Jillian Krawzcak sac fly to right, added two more for the Blue and White. The five-run fifth included six hits by the Timberwolves, 6-1 NU.
• The Rangers would get one back in the fifth as UWP would double home a runner from third, 6-2 NU.
• Mutter would finish off the Rangers in the seventh, striking out two of three as Northwood would take game one.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 6/13/3, Parkside 2/8/0
• Runners left on base: Northwood 9, Parkside 8
• Winning Pitcher – Brittani Mutter (1-0) 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 6 K
• Losing Pitcher – Kiley Akey (1-2) 4 IP, 10 H, 6 R (6 ER), 2 BB, 2 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Lundquist: 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 R
• Ziel: 2-4, R
• Gale: 2-4, RBI, R
• Fantin: 2-3, RBI

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• Harding came out swinging in the first. A triple led off the game for Harding. She later scored on an RBI groundout, 0-1 HU.
• Harding would tack on another later in the first with a single down the right field line, 2-0 HU.
• Northwood's bats came alive in the fourth. Singles by Haley Frank and Ziel and an RBI single from Steimel cut the Timberwolf deficit in half, 1-2 HU.
• Harding's RBI groundout in the fifth extended their lead to 3-1.
• A hit batsman and two doubles in the sixth added to the Bison lead, 1-5 HU.
• Steimel doubled in the sixth, but Northwood would be unable to capitalize on any momentum, eventually falling to the Bison 5-1.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 1/6/0, Harding 5/10/0
• Runners left on base: Northwood 5, Harding 5
• Winning Pitcher: Maegan Pistokache (2-1) 3 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 1 K
• Losing Pitcher: Hailey Leister (2-1) 5.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R (5 ER), 0 BB, 2 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Steimel: 2-3, 2B, RBI
• Frank: 1-3, R

NORTHWOOD NOTES

• Brittani Mutter earned her first collegiate win by pitching five innings, allowing just one run on five hits, and striking out six.
• This was the first-ever matchup between the Bison and Timberwolves.

UP NEXT

• Softball will head to the Blue Bridge Battle in Owensboro, Ky. Friday (February 24) where they will do battle with Davenport (1 p.m. EST) and McKendree (3 p.m. EST).