Sunday's Scoreboard
Toledo 9, Ohio 1
Toledo 5, Ohio 4
Miami 8, Akron 0
Northern Illinois 8, Western Michigan 1
Western Michigan 10, Northern Illinois 2
Stories Courtesy of MAC Sports Information
Toledo - Ohio
TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo swept a doubleheader against Ohio at Scott Park on Saturday afternoon to move into third place in the Mid-American Conference standings. Sophomore Leah Munson's ninth-inning homer propelled the Rockets to a 5-4 victory in the opener before an offensive explosion resulted in a 9-1 (5 inn.) triumph in the nightcap.
"Getting a sweep and taking three of four from Ohio is a big weekend for us," Head Coach Joe Abraham said. "They are so good up and down the lineup that you never feel comfortable."
Toledo held a 4-1 lead entering the seventh inning of Game One after junior Anna Dixon's two-run triple put the Rockets in front by a 3-1 margin in the fifth. Ohio rallied to send the game to extra innings by taking advantage of pair of UT errors in the seventh.
"Seeing Ohio come back in the seventh was tough, especially after giving up a five-run lead yesterday," Head Coach Joe Abraham said. "But Erin Hunt and our defense bounced back, and Leah just crushed the ball over the left-center field fence to win it for us."
Hunt (14-7) earned the victory in Game One by allowing five hits and four runs (two earned) and striking out six in nine innings. Ohio starter Madi McCrady (6-4) took the loss after giving up 10 hits and five runs in eight innings.
Junior Makenna Durieux (1-2) came up big in Game Two to earn her first victory as a Rocket. She limited the Bobcats to just two hits in five innings.
"Makenna gave us a huge lift with her performance today," Abraham said. "She kept the ball down and had their hitters doing what she wanted."
Dayna Denner topped the Rockets offensively with a perfect 5-for-5 day at the plate, that included a home run and double. Junior Raquel Emery also drilled a pair of doubles in Game Two, while freshman Lexi Eckman, junior Aleah Marra and Munson each collected three hits in the twinbill.
Toledo returns to action next weekend with a four-game series at Western Michigan in Kalamazoo, Mich. The Rockets and Broncos are scheduled to play single games on Friday, April 16 and Sunday, April 18 with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 17.
Miami 8, Akron 0
Box Score
AKRON, Ohio – The Miami University softball team completed a four-game sweep of the Akron Zips, concluding with an 8-0 win on Sunday. In the victory, Courtney Vierstra threw a perfect game as the RedHawks outscored Akron 40-7 in the four-game series. Miami has now won 16-straight contests and sits 12-0 in Mid-American Conference play. Miami is 22-6 overall.
On Friday, Viersta no-hit UA and one-upped herself on Sunday, striking out 12 Zips en route to a perfect game. Karlee Juarez got Miami's offense off to a fast start, homering to right field in the top of the first. Allie Cummins then singled to left field to plate Karli Spaid as the RedHawks led 2-0 after one inning of play.
Miami added its second home run of the game in as many innings as Kate Kobayashi knocked a pitch over the right field fence to spot the Red and White a 3-0 advantage midway through the second.
The RedHawks added three more runs in the fourth. A single by Adriana Barlow scored two as the junior extend her MAC leading RBI total. Mackenzie Moore made it 6-0 RedHawks with a single through the right side. Miami added two more runs in the seventh off of an Akron error and an RBI fly out from Julia Kennedy.
Northern Illinois - Western Michigan
DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University softball team came out swinging in the first game of a doubleheader with Western Michigan at Mary M. Bell Field Friday.
NIU (10-21, 5-11) took the first game of the day, 8-1, behind a strong outing from Claire Norred before suffering a 10-2 setback to the Broncos (10-20, 6-10) in the series finale.
Huskie starter Claire Norred turned in another stellar performance for NIU against Western Michigan in the first game of the day. She held the Broncos to four hits, while allowing the one run. She recorded four strikeouts for the complete game victory. She faced the minimum four of her seven innings.
"When you throw 14 innings [in two games] and you only give up two runs total, you're doing something right to keep them off balance," NIU head coach Christina Sutcliffe said. "She did a nice job, kept the ball low in the zone and we had some good infield defense in that first game to get her out of some tight spots."
The Huskies jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead in game one and never looked back. Carley Goetschius got things started with two on and one out as the Huskie junior doubled to clear the bases and give NIU a 2-0 advantage. She took third on the play at the plate and scored when Bianca Barone drove her in in the very next at bat.
After Western Michigan tallied its first run of the game in the top of the third, NIU came back with another big inning in the bottom of the fifth and again it was the two through four hitters doing much of the damage.
Kelly Walinski singled to lead off the inning and advanced to third on a Katie Keller double. Goetschius walked to load the bases for Barone, who also walked to drive in Walinski and give NIU a 4-1 lead. Keller then scored when Mackenzie Mahy also walked. Sam Mallinder delivered the big blow in the inning with a two-RBI single up the middle to give NIU a 7-1 lead.
NIU added another run in the sixth when Barone doubled to right center, driving in Goetschius all the way from first.
The Huskies two through four hitters went 7-for-13 with five RBIs and eight runs scored.
"They jumped on her [Sydney Stefanik] early, then she settled in," Sutcliffe said. "We had to readjust again and eventually started breaking it back open later in the game."
Game two was all Western Michigan. The Broncos scored a run in each of the first two innings, and three in the top of the third to open up a 5-0 lead. Western Michigan then put up a four spot in the top of the fifth to take a 9-0 advantage.
NIU was able to extend the game when Kira Mickelson blasted a towering two-run shot over the scoreboard in the left field.
The Huskies conclude their five-game homestand when NIU welcomes Valparaiso to Mary M. Bell Field on Wednesday. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. CT and fans can watch the games on NIUTube or via live stats on NIUHuskies.com.
