Softball clinches spot in OAC Tournament with doubleheader split at Mount Union

ALLIANCE — The Ohio Northern softball team clinched a sopt in the 4-team Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a double header split at Mount Union on Saturday afternoon. ONU dropped the first game 2-1, but won game two 6-5.

The Basics

• Records: Ohio Northern (17-19 Overall, 11-5 OAC), Mount Union (21-11 Overall, 10-4 OAC).
• Venue: 23rd Street Softball Field — Alliance, Ohio.

Game 1 - L, 1-2

• In the first inning, junior Allie Wilson (Wapakoneta) singled to left field to score freshman Jaylee Fansler (Plainfield, Ind./Avon) to go up 1-0.
• The Purple Raiders answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning.
• The game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth inning when the hosts scored one more run to take the lead.
• Senior Ashley Lenser (Brookville) pitched a complete game with four strikeouts.

Game 2 - W, 6-5

• In the top of the first inning, senior Taylor Hilty (Kettering/Fairmont) hit an RBI single to score Wilson.
• Mount Union scored one run in the bottom of the inning.
• In the second inning, Wilson hit another RBI single and Fansler stole home to go up 3-1.
• The Raiders scored another run in the bottom of the second inning.
• Junior Kylie King (London/Jonathan Alder) hit an RBI single in the third inning.
• In the fourth inning, Hilty hit a 2-RBI single to make the score 6-2.
• MU scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, but ONU held on to get the win.
• Hilty went 3-for-4 with 3 RBIs to lead ONU offensively.
• Lenser pitched another complete game to get the win in the circle, improving to 13-10 on the season.

Notables

• Ohio Northern is now 60-49-1 all-time against Mount Union.
• Lenser now has 108 strikeouts this season, which ranks eighth-best in ONU history.
• Lenser is now second in ONU history with 348 career strikeouts and third with 48 career victories in the circle.
• Lenser, Wilson and senior Callie Rosser (Republic/Monroeville) lead the team in batting through 36 games this season with averages of .409, .402 and .379, respectively.
• Ohio Northern is in its 58th season of softball. The Polar Bears are 1,013-699-4 all-time, a winning percentage of .591.
• Head coach Summer Collins is in her first season at Ohio Northern.

Up Next

• The Polar Bears will return to action on Tuesday with a doubleheader at Wooster at 3:30 p.m.