Softball: #24 Ohio Northern (24-9) at NCAA III Tournament Decatur Regional

Friday-Sunday, May 13-15, 2022 - Workman Softball Field, Decatur, Ill.

| NCAA III Tournament Page | NCAA III Softball Page |

Tournament Preview: The No. 24-ranked Ohio Northern softball team will travel to Decatur, Ill., for the NCAA III Tournament Decatur Regional ... ONU will face tournament host Millikin (Ill.) in its first game of the tournament on Friday at 4:30 pm (CDT) … Northern is making its eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and is the third time in the past four seasons that ONU has won the OAC Tournament title and been invited to the NCAA III Tournament … The tournament is double-elimination format, and the winner will advance to NCAA III Tournament Super Regionals next weekend … The NCAA Tournament is a 62-team field with 15 four-team Regional double-elimination tournaments and one two-team double-elimination tournament this weekend ... The 16 teams advancing from regionals will compete in a two-team, best-of-three tournament at eight super regional sites ... The eight Regional champions advance to the NCAA III Softball World Series May 26-31 at Salem, Va. … Ohio Northern qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning their eighth OAC Tournament title last weekend ... ONU defeated Otterbein 1-0, Mount Union 6-4 and Mount Union 4-3 to claim the crown ... Seniors Lauren Renner and Hannah Rubel, sophomore Kaylie Griffin and freshman Ashley Lenser were all named to the All-Tournament Team ... The Polar Bears entered the OAC Tournament as the No. 1 seed after winning their 11th OAC Regular Season crown with a 16-2 mark ... ONU was 4-6 after its spring break trip and has gone 20-3 since returning north to Ohio ... Six Polar Bears were named All-OAC this week ... Junior Sydney Motylinski, Griffin and Lenser were 1st Team pick, senior Rachel Hish and junior Allie Bican were 2nd team selections and Renner received Honorable Mention honors ... Through 33 games this season, Griffin leads ONU and is third in the OAC with a .414 batting average ... She also leads the team in hits (41), runs (32), RBIs (25) and home runs (6) … Rubel (.320), Hish (.309), Lenser (.309) and Renner (.308) are also hitting above .300 on the season … Hish ranks 31st on ONU's all-time hits list with 114, and senior Abby Elliott is tied for 32nd with 112 career hits … Lenser (1.34) and Bican (2.14) rank 1-2 in the OAC in ERA this year … Senior Stacey Walters, who was 2nd Team All-OAC in 2021, ranks 10th all-time at ONU with 162 strikeouts, while Bican ranks 11th with 158 career strikeouts … Tournament host Millikin (32-7) is the No. 1 seed and will host Ohio Northern in the second game of Friday's first day at 4:30 pm (CDT), while second-seeded Alma (Mich.) (25-13) and third-seeded Illinois College (21-12-1) will begin the tournament with a 2 pm (CDT) contest ... Three games are slated for Saturday beginning at Noon with the championship Game 6 on Sunday at Noon ... A Game 7, if necessary, will follow Game 6 on Sunday ... Millikin earned an at-large bid to the NCAA III Tournament after winning the CCIW Regular Season title ... Alma was second in the MIAA with a 12-4 league record and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament ... Illinois College (21-12-1) earned an automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament after winning the MWC Tournament title ... The Lady Blues were second in the Midwest Conference with a 12-3-1 record.

Ohio Northern Batting Leaders:

Ohio Northern Pitching Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Illinois College by a 2-0 margin and trails the series with Alma 19-10 ... ONU and Millikin will be meeting for the first time on Friday.

Head Coach Jackie Price: Price is in her sixth year at the helm of the Ohio Northern softball team … She is 135-73-1 at Ohio Northern, a winning percentage of .648 ... She is only the second coach in OAC history to win the OAC Tournament and participate in the NCAA Tournament as both a player and a coach, as she led ONU to the Softball World Series in both 2009 and 2012.