Softball Finishes Regular Season With Split At Ursuline

OVERVIEW – Ursuline

SCORES: Northwood 11, Ursuline 0/ Northwood 4, Ursuline 5

RECORDS: Northwood (26-18, 16-8 G-MAC), Ursuline (10-30, 7-17 G-MAC)

LOCATION: Ursuline Softball Field – Pepper Pike, Ohio

RECAP: Northwood Softball finished their final weekend of regular season action at Ursuline Sunday (April 27). Northwood won game one convincingly, 11-0, before their late-game rally fell short in game two, 5-4.

GAME ONE HIGHLIGHTS

• Teams were scoreless until the fourth. Northwood capitalized on an Arrow's error. Gianna Fantin scored the Timberwolves' first run, being knocked home by a pinch-hitting Delaney Belding who singled to center, 1-0 NU.
•  Northwood began to blow the game open as the fourth inning continued. Saylar Cuthrell's infield single brought home Chloe Cooper, making it 2-0. Ashlyn Lundquist then blasted a triple to center to score two more for Northwood, 4-0 NU.
• Northwood scored three more in the fourth, ballooning their lead to seven. Two Ursuline errors gave NU all the momentum. Ashley Ziel, Delanie Gale, and Abby Robinson all came around to score, 7-0 NU.
• Lundquist continued her hot stretch with her first home run of the season and third for her career. Her two-run shot drove in Gabby Schloop, who walked to open the inning, breaking the program's all-time walk record with No. 73, 9-0 NU.
• The run-rule was in effect, and the Timberwolves piled on. Northwood added RBI singles from Robinson and Fantin, scoring Gale and Ziel, giving NU its largest lead and the final of 11-0.
• Brynn Polega went five strong, tossing a gem, falling one hit short of a perfect game. She picked up her 14^th victory and her third shutout of the year.

GAME ONE STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 11/11/0, Ursuline 0/1/4
• Runners left on base: Northwood 7, Ursuline 1
• Winning Pitcher – Brynn Polega (14-5) 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
• Losing Pitcher – Bri Bowles (1-2) 3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R (2 ER), BB, 2 K

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Lundquist: 2-4, HR, 3B, 4 RBI, R
• Ziel: 2-4, 2 R
• Robinson: 1-4, 3 RBI, R
• Belding: 1-1, RBI
• Cuthrell: 1-3, RBI, R

GAME TWO HIGHLIGHTS

• Ursuline took control of game two early, scoring once in the first via two singles. They added three more in the second with a walk, single, back-to-back hit batters, and a two-run single. Ursuline held a 4-0 advantage after two.
• Carney Salo brought in Northwood's first run with a groundout to short. Robinso scored from third on the play, 4-1 UC.
• Ursuline answered the Timberwolves in their part of the fourth. A two-out RBI triple to right brought in UC's fifth run, 5-1 UC.
• Payton Schafsnitz's sac fly in the fifth drove in Lakyn Karr, cutting the Arrows' lead to three, 5-2 NU.
• Northwood's rally in the seventh fell just short. The Timberwolves scored twice via a dropped fly in right and a Belding single up the middle. Karr and Cuthrell would score, but Northwood would leave the bases loaded, falling 5-4.

GAME TWO STATS

• Runs/Hits/Errors: Northwood 4/9/0, Ursuline 5/8/1
• Runners left on base: Northwood 9, Ursuline 6
• Winning Pitcher – Kathleen Wack (3-13) 7 IP, 9 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 5 K
• Losing Pitcher – Delaney Belding (0-2) 2 IP, 4 H, 4 R (4 ER), BB, 2 HBP

TOP NU PERFORMERS

• Belding: 2-4, RBI
• Schafsnitz: 2 RBI
• Karr: 2-3, 2R
• Salo: 1-4, RBI
• Cuthrell: 1-3, BB, R

UP NEXT

• Northwood Softball heads back to Ohio for the G-MAC Tournament (April 30-May 1). Northwood will find out their seeding and opponent on Monday (April 28).
• The 2025 Great Midwest Athletic Conference Championship will be held at Firestone Stadium, located in Akron, Ohio. The 2025 edition will mark the 12th annual G-MAC Softball Championship. The tournament will feature the top eight teams based on win percentage in a double-elimination bracket.