Softball drops second round contest to #16 DePauw (Ind.) in NCAA Softball Tournament

By: Tim Glon

ADRIAN, Mich. — Ohio Northern fell to the loser's bracket of the NCAA Division III Adrian Regional Tournament with a 13-5 loss to No. 16-ranked DePauw (Ind.) Friday afternoon at the AC Softball Field.

The fifth-seeded Polar Bears (27-13) will now face No. 19-ranked and second-seeded Alma (Mich.) in an elimination game Saturday morning at 10 am.

The Tigers (29-8-1) remain in the winner's bracket and will face either Baldwin-Wallace or Hiram Saturday at 2 pm.

Ohio Northern got back-to-back home runs from junior All-Americans Kimi Blewett and Jackie Mangola to score four runs in the bottom of the third frame.

But the DU lead was 8-0 by that point thanks to five walks, two hit batters, two wild pitches and a fielding error by the ONU pitching staff in the first three innings.

"Our offense did its job today, but our pitching and defense did not," ONU head coach Kim Burke said. "In NCAA Tournament play, if you can get five runs and have eight hits, you've done your job. But we helped DePauw way too much early. You can't give good teams that many extra base runners and extra outs and be successful in this tournament."

Freshman All-Region center fielder Christin Miller and Blewett each went 2 for 3 and Mangola was 1 for 2 with a walk to lead the ONU offense.

Trailing 8-0 in the bottom of the third, junior Lisa Light started the inning with an infield single to short and Miller followed with a bunt single.

One out later, Blewett drilled a 3-run home home run down the left field line to pull the Polar Bears within 8-3. The dinger was Blewett's 12th of the season.

Mangola took the next pitch to deep center field for her school-record 20th home run of the season. The lead was trimmed to 8-4 and the momentum seemed to swing in Northern's favor.

But a fielding error, a sacrifice bunt and a single extended DePauw's lead to 9-4 in the top of the fourth and stopped whatever momentum ONU had.

DU's Jen Kocinski then hit a 3-run home run in the top of the fifth to go with her second inning grand slam to finish the day 2 for 3 with four runs scored and 7 RBI.

Emily Bichler improved to 27-8 with the complete game victory, while sophomore Abbey Bensing fell to 6-1 on the year and lasted just 1.1 innings in the circle for Northern.

The Polar Bears picked up their fifth run in the bottom of the fifth when Blewett led off with a single, freshman pinch-runner Colleen Baliga went to second on a wild pitch and scored when sophomore All-Region center fielder Ashley Sujkowski singled to center and the ball went through the DU fielder's legs for an error.

Should the Polar Bears defeat Alma Saturday morning and stay alive in the tournament, they would turn around and play again at 4 pm in another elimination contest.