No. 24 Softball edged in extra innings 5-4 by Millikin (Ill.) on first day of NCAA III Tournament

By Tim Glon

| NCAA III Tournament Page | NCAA III Softball Page |

DECATUR, Ill. — Millikin (Ill.) broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the ninth inning to edge No. 24-ranked Ohio Northern 5-4 in the second game of the NCAA Division III Decatur Regional Tournament on a sunny and hot Friday afternoon at Workman Softball Field.

Northern scored four times in the top of the seventh on three consecutive two-out hits, capped by a two-out, two-run triple by sophomore Kaylie Griffin (Grafton/Elyria Catholic), to rally from a 4-0 deficit to send the game into extra innings.

Millikin got a leadoff triple in the bottom of the ninth from Grace Biondo and a sac fly from Camryn Skundberg to plate the winning run.

Senior Abby Elliott (Loveland/Ursuline) went 2-for-5 with an RBI to lead the 10-hit ONU attack.

She ripped the first pitch of the game into center field for a base hit and her RBI bloop single with two out in the seventh scored junior Sydney Motylinski (Ida, Mich.) to get ONU on the board at 4-1.

Senior Rachel Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) followed with a single to plate junior Lauren Walls (Grove City) and get Northern within 4-2.

Griffin then blasted her triple to deep left center field to tie the game at 4-all.

"We were nervous at the start of the game," ONU head coach Jackie Price said. "We have an inexperienced team when it comes to playing in the NCAA Tournament. Once we settled down we were fine and kept battling. We were just one more hit away from taking the lead, so we need to use that rally to build confidence and come back ready to play tomorrow."

Freshman Ashley Lenser (Brookville) was solid in the circle, allowing just eight hits and two earned runs with four strikeouts, but took the loss to fall to 12-3 on the season.

Millikin took a quick 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first and got two unearned runs in the fifth to extend its lead to 4-0.

The fourth-seeded Polar Bears (24-10 overall) will now play second-seeded Alma (Mich.) in an elimination game on Saturday at 2:30 pm.

The top-seeded Big Blue (33-7) will play third-seeded Illinois College in a winner's bracket game on Saturday at Noon.

Illinois College (22-12-1) won the first game of the day with a 4-0 victory over Alma (Mich.) (25-14).