Softball Travels to Oakland for Rare Mid-Week Summit Series

FORT WAYNE, Ind. - The IPFW Mastodons play in a rare mid-week three-game conference series when the squad travels to Rochester, Mich., to face off against the Oakland Golden Grizzlies.

Opponent: Oakland Golden Grizzlies (5-14-1, 1-7 Summit League)
When: April 16, 2013, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. | April 17, 2013, 12 p.m.
Where: Rochester, Mich.
All-Time Series: Oakland leads 13-10
Live Stats: Oakland Gametracker

ABOUT IPFW
The Mastodons come into the mid-week series having won six in a row, and eight of the last nine, including a two-game sweep of the South Dakota Coyotes last Saturday.

In the series, Brittany Kachur led the team with three hits - two doubles - and drove in two runs. Hillary Kartman drove in two, and was one of six players with two hits in the series. Miranda Kramer picked up the victory in each of the games, starting the first and striking out 15 in a seven-inning victory, before striking out four in four-plus innings in the nightcap, finishing with a 0.62 ERA over the two games.

For the year, the Mastodons have two players batting above .400, led by Larissa Franklin who is hitting .420, while Ashleigh Bousquet is batting .402. Kachur is hitting .397, with Dani Pugh (.352) and Alex Bousquet (.325) each comfortably over the .300 plateau. Ashleigh Bousquet has a team-high 28 RBI's, with Pugh sitting with 24, while Alex Bousquet and Franklin have each scored 25 times, while Franklin leads the pair in stolen bases 18-to-12.

Kramer is 13-4 on the season with a 1.95 ERA, striking out 128 batters in 93.1 innings of work, walking just 18 as opponents hit .212 against her. Megan Flenniken is 6-4 on the season with a 2.87 ERA and 76 strikeouts in an even 78 innings in the circle.

ABOUT OAKLAND
The Oakland Grizzlies head into the mid-week three-game series looking to snap out of their current three-game losing streak, and have lost six of their last seven games.

In their most recent game, a 7-4 loss to South Dakota State, Oakland led 1-0 through until the bottom of the fourth inning, before the Jackrabbits ran off seven straight runs to lead 7-1. A late rally by the Golden Grizzlies saw the visitors score three in the top of the seventh, but it was not enough in the loss. Shannon Cleveland as 2-for-3 for Oakland, while Erika Polidori went 2-for-4, as the team's four runs were scored by four different players, while Erin Galloway drove in three runs.

This season Polidori leads the team with a .328 batting average, while Galloway is hitting .297 and Cleveland .281. Cleveland has a team-high three home runs, while Polidori, Galloway, and S. Hartley each have two. Galloway leads the team with 11 RBI's, while Polidori has 10 and Cleveland nine.

Leading the pitching staff is Erin Kownacki and Laura Pond, as the pair have pitched in 120 of the team's 129.2 innings this season. Kownacki is 4-7 with a 3.02 ERA, and Pond is 0-7 with a 3.30 ERA. Kownacki leads the pair with 53 strikeouts in 62.2 innings, while Pond has 36 strikeouts in 57.1 innings of work.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Oakland leads the all-time series between the two teams with a 13-10 lead in the series. Oakland led 7-2 before the teams first met as members of the Summit League; however, IPFW has turned the table, and leads 8-6 since, including winning two of of three last year in Fort Wayne.

LAST TIME VS. OAKLAND
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.

~ Feel the Rumble ~

Purdue University Fort Wayne Athletics

Softball Travels to Oakland for Rare Mid-Week Summit Series

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