AKRON, Ohio – The Malone University softball team was eliminated from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Softball Championship with losses to #17 Tiffin University 5-1 and a 6-5 defeat at the hands of the four-seed, Northwood University.
The Dragons and Timberwolves continue on in the tournament while the Pioneers' season comes to an end at 24-20. During the opening day ceremony,
Mia Rose was announced as a Second Team All-Conference honoree and
Halyn Cawthorne received the conference's prestigious Elite 26 Award, given to the student-athlete with the highest grade point average competing in the postseason.
MALONE vs TIFFIN RECAP:
The nationally-ranked Dragons were able to make mistake pitches hurt to claim an early lead in game one of the postseason. The first seven hits for Tiffin all went for extra bases with six doubles and one triple. All told, the opponents took a 4-0 lead in as many innings played.
The first opportunity to score for Malone was thwarted by a line drive double play on a hard-hit ball by Rose. The Pioneers loaded the bases in the fourth with the help of hits by
Aricka Young and
Ella Collinsworth, but once again, runners were left on base.
Malone was able to avoid more damage in the fifth when
Allie Weilnau worked around three two-out hits by the Dragons. The Pioneers were able to score their only run of the game in the top of the sixth after they loaded the bases on two walks and an error. Collinsworth delivered an RBI single, but a double play and a groundout ended the inning prematurely.
A pair of singles and an error made it 5-1 in favor of Tiffin and that was enough to keep Malone at arm's length in the seventh and final inning. The Pioneers were outhit 12-5, with two coming off the bat of Young and Collinsworth. Rose and
Sidney Conti each reached base twice on walks. Rose (10-12) struck out two in three innings in the circle. Weilnau had one strikeout and allowed one run in her three innings out of the bullpen.
MALONE vs NORTHWOOD RECAP:
The story of runners left on base carried into game two of the day for Malone after they left the bases loaded in the first.
Jessie Crookston came through for an RBI single in the second inning to put the Pioneers up 1-0.
Lacie Quarles singled up the middle to drive in Collinsworth, who led off the third with a double, and then
Marlee Pireu blasted a two-run homerun to left field to go up 4-0.
A walk and a pair of singles got one of those runs back, but a solo homerun in the bottom of the fifth opened the floodgates for a three-run inning for the Timberwolves. That tied the game up at 4-4 and a two-out RBI double by Northwood in the sixth gave the opponents the lead.
In their final turns at-bat, Pireu doubled and then moved to third on a passed ball. She got caught in a rundown when Rose hit one back to the pitcher, but an elusive slide at the plate tied the game up at 5-5 following an umpire review. In the bottom half of the inning, a two-out double into the right center field gap plated the game-winning run for the Timberwolves.
Rose had three strikeouts in four innings and Weilnau (14-8) recorded two strikeouts. Rose allowed four hits and one run in the game. Pireu was 2-for-3 with six total bases, added a walk and had two RBIs and two runs scored. Collinsworth once again had a multi-hit game and Conti drew two walks.
