The two-seed Muskingum softball team posted a 1-1 record on the opening day of play at the Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournament hosted by Otterbein on Friday. The Muskies beat two-seed Ohio Northern 7-5 and fell against four-seed Heidelberg, 5-4.
Game 1
Three-seed Muskingum rallied from a 5-1 deficit by scoring six unanswered runs to advance in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with a 7-5 win against second-seed Ohio Northern.
Anchoring the Muskie comeback was the dominant relief pitching performance by senior Sarah Browning. Browning fired 4.1 innings of perfect relief with four strikeouts. The win moved Browning to 8-4 on the season.
Junior Jessica Matthews and senior Fallon Gawry helped lead the Muskie 12-hit attack. Matthews went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a double and Gawry added a 2-for-4 outing with two RBIs.
Senior Kelly Martin and sophomore Amy Clark each went 2-for-4. Martin scored two runs and belted a double and Clark smacked a double and had one RBI.
Ohio Northern, which scored all five of its runs with two outs, grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the first on Kylie Asmus' solo home run.
Muskingum tied the game in the third on Matthews' RBI single that scored senior Amber Bova.
The Polar Bears scored four runs on three hits in the bottom of the third to take a 5-1 lead.
The Muskies' comeback started with three runs in the fifth and was completed with three runs in the sixth. Muskingum scored six unanswered runs on nine hits between the fifth and sixth innings.
Asmus led ONU at the plate with two RBIs and two runs. Miranda Huddle added a two-run double for the Polar Bears.
Kirsten Lightel (15-7) suffered the loss after allowing seven runs (six earned) on 11 hits.
Game 2
Heidelberg jumped out to a 5-0 lead after three innings and survived a seventh-inning charge by the Muskies to win, 5-4.
Bova hammered a three-run home run with two outs in the seventh to bring the Muskies to within one. However, the Muskies missed one more clutch hit as the game ended with an infield pop-up.
Muskingum scored four runs on seven hits. Matthews led the Muskies going 2-for-3 with a solo home run off the Rike Center in left field.
Sophomore MacKenzie Martin had a double and scored a run.
Browning (8-5) started the game and lasted 1.2 innings and allowed four runs (two earned) on four hits. Eberling tossed the final 4.1 innings and allowed one run on five hits.
Paige Atterholt registered the complete game win to move to 14-5. She allowed four runs on seven hits.
Heidelberg scored four runs in the second inning and added one in the third to take a 5-0 lead.
Marissa Smego led the Heidelberg nine-hit outing. She went 2-for-3 with one RBI.
Abbey McKee hit a solo home run and Kyleah Brey went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Up Next
Muskingum next plays Ohio Northern in an elimination game on Saturday, May 7 at 9:00 a.m. Fans can follow the action with Live Audio on fightingmuskies.com.
