Softball drops Game 7 of OAC Tournament to Muskingum, 7-2
By Tim Glon
ADA -- Junior Adriana Sikora led off the game with her league-leading 16th home run of the season and her fifth in as many games in the 2014 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament.
But Muskingum scored twice in the second and three more times in the fourth to take control and win the deciding Game 7 3-2 to claim the tournament title Sunday afternoon at the ONU Softball field.
The top-seeded Polar Bears end their season at 23-19, while the second-seeded Muskies improve to 26-16 and earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament.
Things looked good for Ohio Northern as Sikora drilled the game's second pitch well over the center field fence to make it a 1-0 game.
Sikora, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, scored in the first inning of all five of ONU's OAC Tournament games, three times by home run.
Senior Christin Miller, junior Kelly Sheridan and sophomore Amanda Lahti were also named to the All-Tournament Team.
But MU scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the second to go up 2-1 and would add three more in the fourth to take a 5-1 advantage.
Northern threatened in the top of the sixth, as senior Carly McKenzie singled home Sikora to make it 5-2.
Sheridan followed with a 1-out single to lead the bases, but the Muskies would get out of the inning without any more runs scoring to keep it a 5-2 game.
MU got two more unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away.
Ohio Northern and Muskingum shared the OAC Regular Season title, marking ONU's sixth regular season title in the last eight years.
