Ohio Northern bows out of OAC Softball Tournament in finals

By: Tim Glon
ADA — Ohio Northern battled back from the loser's bracket all the way to the championship game, but fell to Baldwin-Wallace 2-1 in nine innings in Game 6 of the 2011 Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournamrnt Saturday afternoon at the ONU Softball Field.
The Polar Bears fall to 26-12, while the Yellow Jackets win the tournament title with a 27-9 record.

Northern receives the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament by reaching the championship game of the OAC Tournament as the OAC Regular Season champion.

The sites, dates and opponents of the NCAA Regionals will be announced Monday. It will be Northern's third consecutive NCAA appearance.

ONU won a share of the OAC Regular Season crown with a 14-4 record, winning the title for the third consecutive time and the fourth time in the past five seasons.

Junior All-American Jackie Mangola and sophomores Michelle Sweet and Ashley Sujkowski were named to the All-Tournament Team.

The game was a pitcher's duel by B-W's Justina Wise (15-5) and ONU's Maggie Molnar (6-6).

Lauren Feciuch hit a 2-out solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to break a 1-1 tie and give B-W their first OAC Tournament title in school history.

Sujkowski tied the game at 1-1 when she led off the top of the seventh frame with a solo home run to left-center field.

B-W had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a double by Katrina Resek and a single by Ashley Elber, but Molnar would allow just one B-W base hit over the next five innings.

The Yellow Jackets loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the sixth and had runners on second and third with just one out in the bottom of the seventh, but both times Molnar worked out of the jam.

Freshman Christin Miller went 2 for 4 at the plate for ONU, while Elber and Tanya Davis each collected two hits for B-W.