Softball beats No. 25 Mount Union and falls to Baldwin Wallace in extra innings on first day of OAC Tournament
May 9, 2024
ALLIANCE — The Ohio Northern softball team split games on the first day of play at the 2024 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at Mount Union.
The No. 4 seeded Polar Bears beat top-seeded and No. 25-ranked Mount Union in the first game, 5-2. ONU then lost to No. 3 Baldwin Walace in the second game of the day, 9-5.
The Basics
- Records: Ohio Northern (23-19 overall, 10-8 OAC), #25 Mount Union (32-7 overall, 15-1 OAC), Baldwin Wallace (24-14 overall, 11-5 OAC).
- Venue: 23rd Street Softball Field - Alliance, Ohio.
Game 1 - W, 5-2
- Ohio Northern scored all five of their runs in the top of the third inning on their way to a 5-2 win.
- Junior Callie Rosser (Republic/Monroeville) scored first off an error by Mount Union.
- Junior Ashley Lenser (Brookville) also scored off another MTU error to make the score 2-0.
- Sophomore Allie Wilson (Wapakoneta) finished off the inning with a three-run homer, scoring fifth-year senior Sydney Motylinski (Ida, Mich.) and junior Mariana Alejandro (Gibsonburg) to make the score 5-0.
- The Purple Raiders answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the third inning.
- Lenser pitched a complete game for the Polar Bears, striking out six.
- MTU out-hit ONU 9-4.
Game 2 - L, 5-9 (8 innings)
- Baldwin Wallace jumped to a quick 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
- In the bottom of the third inning, Motylinski doubled to score senior Kaylie Griffin (Grafton/Elyria Catholic).
- Motylinski then scored along with Wilson on a double by freshman Carlie Schroeder (Wapakoneta) making the score 3-3.
- BW scored again in the top of the fifth inning, but Motylinski answered with a two-run home run in the bottom of the inning to make the score 5-4.
- Baldwin Wallace scored one run in the top of the seventh, forcing an extra inning where they scored four more runs, making the score 9-5.
- Lenser pitched another complete game, striking out four.
- BW out-hit ONU 11-10.
Notables
- The double-elimination tournament was slated to get underway on Thursday, but both games that day were postponed due to rain.
- The teams then scheduled to play Games 1-4 on Friday.
- Motylinski now has 150 career base hits and 109 career RBIs. She ranks 8th all-time in ONU history with her 109 RBIs.
- Wilson, Alejandro and Rosser lead Ohio Northern in batting through 42 games this season with averages of .381, .357 and .351, respectively.
- Lenser is now 12-5 on the season with a 2.12 ERA and 99 strikeouts.
- In her career, Lenser is 34-16 with a 1.90 ERA and 229 strikeouts. She ranks tied for 9th all-time at ONU in wins, 7th in ERA, and 6th in strikeouts.
- The Polar Bears finished in fourth place in the OAC Regular Season standings with a 10-8 record.
- Ohio Northern is in its 57th season of softball. The Polar Bears are 995-679-4 all-time, a winning percentage of .593.
- Seventh-year head coach Jackie Price is now 177-111-1 at Ohio Northern for a winning percentage of .612.
Up Next
- The Polar Bears will play the winner of the Muskingum and Mount Union game in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament at Mount Union on Saturday.