Errors Do in 'Dons Against Oakland

Saturday, March 17

Fort Wayne, Ind.

1:00 p.m.

Purdue Fort Wayne

17-5, 5-1

Oakland

2-14, 1-5

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Oakland	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	7	5	0
IPFW	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	3	5	5

Photo by: Lucas Carter

3/17/2012 4:28:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

BOX SCORE

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - Oakland scored six unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 7-3 advantage in the four-run Golden Grizzly win in the final game of a three-game Summit League series.

Stephanie Beuther was 2-for-4 for the Mastodons, as Courtney Cronin was tagged with the loss despite giving up just one earned run over six and a third inning of work, striking out 11 and walking four.

The teams opened the game by trading scoreless frames for the first two innings of the game, before Oakland pushed a run across in the top of the third inning when Erika Polidori was hit by a pitch, stole second base, and scored when Erin Galloway singled down the left field line, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The Mastodons wasted no time in responding in their half of the inning when Audrey Mintari led off the inning with a single before Kayti Hanson walked and Alex Bousquet was hit by a pitch, her second of three times getting plunked in the game, to load the bases. Larissa Franklin followed by hitting a fly ball to left field, scoring Mintari, and knotting the score at one apiece.

IPFW loaded the bases in the third, fourth, and fifth innings, but could only score the one in the third, and two more in the fourth on a Hanson bases-loaded walk that scored Cronin, and Alex Bousquet's third and final hit-by-pitch, that pushed around Beuther.

In the fifth, IPFW loaded the bases with one out; however, a line-out and a fly-out ended the threat.

In the top of the seventh, the Mastodons forced the Grizzlies into a line-out to start the inning, before back-to-back errors by IPFW infielders put runners on first and second, before Polidori hit an infield single to load the bases. Another infield single followed, cutting the deficit to 3-2, before Galloway drove in two to give the visitors the lead, as the Grizzlies added another three runs in the frame, taking a 7-3 lead.

Cronin singled in the bottom of seventh inning, and was moved to second on a wild pitch, but was left stranded there in the loss.

IPFW totaled five hits in the game, scoring three times, once each by three different batters, as the three RBI's were also from three different players. IPFW also committed a season-high five errors in the loss, the most in a game since IPFW committed five against South Dakota State on April 9, 2010.

The Mastodons, now 17-5 this season and 5-1 in Summit League play, return to action on Monday, March 19 when the team travels to Indianapolis, where they will face off against the Bulldogs of Butler in a double-header starting at 2 p.m.

~ Feel the Rumble ~