The two-seeded Muskingum softball team blanked three-seed Baldwin Wallace in the Final Four of the Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournament at Donna J. Newberry field on Thursday afternoon, 4-0. With the win, Muskingum advances to the OAC Championship Series and will host four-seed Ohio Northern.

Notable

• With the win, the Muskies will play in the Ohio Athletic Conference Championship Series on Saturday, May 15, and host four-seed Ohio Northern. Game time is set for 1:00 p.m. The last time the Muskies were in the Conference Championship was in 2014, when they beat Ohio Northern, 7-2. Fans can follow all the championship action live on fightingmuskies.com or the OAC TV app. The winner of the best-of-three series will receive the OAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

The Basics

• Records: Muskingum (28-12), Baldwin Wallace (22-16)
• Location: Donna J. Newberry Field – New Concord, Ohio
• Attendance: 115

 Inside the Numbers

• Junior Hannah Smith collected her 12th win of the season, shutting down the Yellow Jackets offense on five hits.
• Senior Karsyn Shaffer guided the Muskie offense with three hits and two RBIs.
• Junior Cristianna Boggs notched two hits, including an RBI double.
• Senior Bailey Waitkus added a hit and RBI.
• Freshman Alex Fankhauser finished the contest with three hits, including a double.
• Alex Kozich, Raegan Thompson, Bridie Bricker, Amanda Crisler, and Julia Gersey all had a hit for the Baldwin Wallace.
• Nikki Camarati was dealt the loss after pitching six innings and allowing four runs on 11 hits.

 The Difference

• The Muskies plated their first run of the contest in the second inning off a Boggs RBI double to left-center, making it a 1-0 Muskie lead.
• The Muskies continued to plate two more runs in the second off a Shaffer single to center field making it, 3-0.
• The Muskies scored all three runs with two outs in the inning.
• The Yellow Jackets' best chance came in the fifth inning when they left the bases loaded.
• The Muskies scored their last run in the fifth off a Waitkus single up the middle.
• Muskingum scored four runs off 11 hits.