Mastodons Fall in Summit Tournament Opener

Thursday, May 12

Macomb, Ill.

3:30 PM

Purdue Fort Wayne

28-14-1

North Dakota State

28-25

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
IPFW	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3
North Dakota State	4	0	0	0	1	0	X	5	5	0

Megan Flenniken pitched the final five and two-thirds inning of the game in relief for IPFW

5/12/2011 6:38:04 PM | Softball

Box Score

BOX SCORE

Macomb, IL - Behind a four-run first inning, the North Dakota State Bison toppled the IPFW Mastodons 5-0 in the opening round of the 2011 Summit League Championships.

Rachel Staschuk, Ashleigh Bousquet, and Alex Bousquet had each of IPFW's three hits in the game, as Megan Flenniken pitched the final five and two-thirds on an inning, scattering three hits and allowing one run.

IPFW was sat down in order in the top of the first inning before North Dakota State got a leadoff walk from Nicole Rivera. Elisa Victa reached on a fielder's choice, as the throw to second base to get the lead runner out was a half-second late, as Rivera was called save at second base. Taylor Mortensen successfully sacrificed the runners to second and third, before Brea Konz walked. The the fourth ball of the walk came on an illegal pitch when starting pitcher Courtney Cronin brought her hand to her mouth and failed to dry her hands on her jersey, which moved Victa to third and scored Rivera.

A throwing error by Cronin a batter later scored Victa, before back-to-back singles, the later by Jenina Ortega, scored Konz. With runners on the corner, Katie Tamayo scored on a second illegal pitch, for the same reasons as the first, giving the hosts on the scoreboard a 4-0 lead. Flenniken then came in as a relief pitcher and got the next two batters to pop-out and ground-out, putting an end to an opportunity for more runs in the inning.

Flenniken kept the Bison off of the scoreboard for the next three innings, giving up her only run when Victa scored on a double to center field by Ortega.

The Mastodons threatened in both the sixth and seventh innings, putting runners on the corners in the sixth inning, before putting runners at second and third in the seventh, but each time none of the runners would come around to score.

Of IPFW's three hits, two were for extra bases, with Ashleigh Bousquet and Rachel Staschuk each picking up doubles. Ortega was 2-for-3 for the Bison, driving in a pair, as the team's other three hits came from three different batters.

Sarah Swanson came to the plate three times in the game, drawing three walks, as Cronin picked up the loss, pitching 0.1 of an inning, giving up three earned runs and allowing two hits. Whitney Johnson improved to 21-11 on the year getting the complete game shutout, striking out four and walking five while scattering the three hits.

The loss puts IPFW into the losers bracket in the double-elimination tournament, and will face the Mastodons against top-seeded UMKC with first-pitch coming at 11:00 AM CST, noon EST.

~Dons~