ADA, OHIO -- The third-seed Baldwin-Wallace College softball team shut out the second-seed John Carroll University today (Friday, May 6) in the opening game of the 2011 Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournament by a final score of 3-0 at the Ohio Northern University Softball Field. In the other first round game, the top-seed Ohio Northern University will face the fourth-seed University of Mount Union at 1:00 p.m.
The OAC Softball Tournament is a double elimination tournament consisting of the top four regular season finishers. John Carroll and Ohio Northern tied for the best regular season record but due to the tie breaker Ohio Northern was given the top seed and is serving as the host for the tournament.
With the win, B-W is now 25-9 overall and will play the winner of the Ohio Northern and Mount Union game at 3:00 p.m. today. John Carroll falls to 26-13 and will face the loser of the ONU and Mt. Union game at 5:00 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring in the fourth inning when junior rightfielder Sarah Baker (Mentor/Lake Catholic) singled to left field. Baker advanced to second on an single through the right side by junior second baseman Katie Finley (Vermilion). Freshman catcher Sami Brown (Kent/Field) walked and Baker and Finleymoved up a base. With the bases load, freshman shortstop Lauren Feciuch (Kent/Field) hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Baker.
In the seventh inning, Feciuch led off the inning with a walk and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by senior first baseman Katrina Resek (Strongsville). Freshman leftfielder Ashley Elber (Huron/Edison)tacked on two runs as she hit a homerun to center field to increase the B-W led to 3-0.
The Yellow Jacket outhit the Blue Streaks 8-6 and were led by Elber as she went 2-for-4 with a homerun and two RBI and Finley also contributed two hits as she went 2-for-3. In addition, the Yellow Jackets got hits from Baker, Brown, senior center fielder Tanya Davis (Hinckley/Medina Highland) and freshman designated hitter Meghan Kossow (Tonawanda, N.Y.).
On the mound, freshman Justina Wise (New London) picked up her team leading 13th win of the season and her third shutout of the season. In addition, she recorded her second win of the season over John Carroll and its ace pitcher Brittany Danilov with the first victory coming in a 3-1 win on April 9 in Berea. Wise threw seven scoreless innings and allowed six hits with four strikeouts and two walks.
FOR MORE B-W Sports Information, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu. or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu Fans can access the latest B-W athletics information at www.bw.edu/athletics and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter athttp://twitter.com/bwathletics
