Softball Earns Crazy Split On Day Two In Florida

OVERVIEW – Sioux Falls / Concordia-St. Paul

SCORES: Northwood 1, Sioux Falls 2 / Northwood 7, Concordia-St. Paul 6

RECORDS: Northwood (5-3, 0-0 G-MAC), Sioux Falls (10-7)/ Concordia-St. Paul (7-13)

LOCATION: Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex – Leesburg, Fla.

RECAP: Northwood softball continued their trip to Florida Friday (March 7) with matchups with Sioux Falls and Concordia-St. Paul. The Timberwolves battled but came up empty in a 2-1 loss to Sioux Falls before beating Concordia-St. Paul in a wild, 7-6, ballgame.

SIOUX FALLS

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Northwood capitalized on a defensive miscue in the top of the first. Gianna Fantin's ground ball led to a bobbled ball at second which brought home Delanie Gale from second, 1-0 NU.
• Moving to the third, a leadoff walk for the Cougars would come around to score via an RBI groundout, tying it at 1-1.
• The Cougars took the lead in the fifth. Another leadoff batter got on via a single before a sac bunt, single, and sac fly brought her home, 2-1 SFU.
• Northwood's offense went quiet in game one after the Cougars took the lead, going six up, six down the rest of the way. Sioux Falls came away with the 2-1 win.

 GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 1/3/1, Sioux Falls 2/2/2
• Runners left on base: Northwood 5, Sioux Falls 3
• Winning Pitcher – M. Duncun (6-3) 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R (0 ER), BB, 5 K
• Losing Pitcher – Brittani Mutter (1-1) 4.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB

TOP NU PERFORMERS

•  Gale: 1-3, R
• Brynn Polega: 1.1 IP, 2 K

CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• The start of what would be a wild ballgame saw Concordia jump out in front 2-0 in the top of the first. Northwood's defense suffered back-to-back fielding miscues that brought home two for the Golden Bears.
• Moving to Northwood's half of the first, the Timberwolves opened up with two singles before Fantin's hit produced an errant throw from third. Ashley Ziel would score from second to cut the CSP lead to just one, 2-1 CSP.
• The whole first inning saw uneasiness from both defenses, and that continued into the second. CSP's three singles to open the inning loaded the bases before a pitching change led to a walk, bringing in CSP's third run.
• CSP added two more after a fielding error at third and a walk drove them in, 5-1 CSP.
• Down 5-1, Northwood looked to cut into the lead in the bottom of the second. Delanie Gale's two-run double to left center drove in Ashlyn Lundquist and Delaney Belding, 5-3.
• One batter later, another booted and thrown away ball from the third baseman brought home Gale from second, 5-4 CSP.
• Pitching settled in as teams went scoreless for the next two and a half innings.
• Gale led off the Northwood fifth with a triple to right center. She later scored via great baserunning. In subsequent plays, she held at third on a groundball fielder's choice before taking off on an attempted double play one play later sliding in to tie the game, 5-5.
• CSP retook the lead in the sixth, a double and yet another booted ball led to the CSP 6-5 lead.
• Gale and Northwood continued to show resiliency. Down to their last out in the sixth, Saylar Cuthrell walked before Lundquist's single to left, moved her to third. She advanced to second on the play at third. This brought up a scorching hot Delanie Gale. CSP's pitcher looked to be pitching around Gale. In a 3-1 count, Gale put a line drive back up the middle to for a two-run, go-ahead single, 7-6 NU.
• Polega went in and nailed down the seventh to give the Timberwolves a 7-6 victory.
• The game featured nine errors, 14 hits, 13 runs (eight earned runs), two ties, and three lead changes.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 7/9/6, Concordia-St. Paul 6/5/3
• Runners left on base: Northwood 5, Concordia-St. Paul 9
• Winning Pitcher – Brynn Polega (3-0) 6 IP, H, 1 R (0 ER), 3 BB, 4 K
• Losing Pitcher – E. McCulloug (0-4) 1 IP, 2 H, 2 R (2 ER), BB

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Gale: 4-4, 3B, 2B, 4 RBI
• Lundquist: 3-4, 2 R
• Lambert: 1-3
• Cuthrell: BB, R

UP NEXT

• Northwood softball continues their Florida trip tomorrow with a doubleheader at Legends Way Softball Complex. The Timberwolves have scheduled morning matchups with Queens (N.Y.) at 9 a.m. and Indiana (Pa.) at 11:15 a.m.