FINDLAY, Ohio – With momentum still on their side, the Panthers of Ohio Dominican managed to hang on in another elimination game to beat Ashland 5-2 to advance to the next round of the GLIAC Softball Tournament.

The Panthers registered their first hit of the game and capitalized on three Ashland errors to put up five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.  Junior Taylor Thomas (Bellville, Ohio) blasted a leadoff double down the left field line and a groundout by freshman Allie Hinton (Newcomerstown, Ohio) advanced Thomas to third, where she was replaced by sophomore Julia Suyak (Trenton, Mich.) to pinch run. Junior Kelsey Albanese (Westerville, Ohio) tripled down the right field line to score Suyak for the first run of the game, followed by a single to left field by fellow Westerville, Ohio native junior Kelsey Seeds to score Albanese. Seeds, junior Brier Sanner (Hartville, Ohio) and sophomore Lizzy Weber (Canton, Ohio) all scored the final three runs of the inning, all of which were unearned.

Ashland threatened in the top of the fifth when Cayla Seidler hit an RBI single up the middle to score a run. The Eagles had runners on second and third but senior Rachael Stanzel (Angleton, Texas) and the Panther defense managed to get out the jam with little damage done.

The Eagles loaded the bases in the top of the sixth with the tying run at the plate. Stanzel forced McKenna Galloway to foul out to junior third baseman Alex Cribari (Lyndhurst, Ohio) to get out of the jam again.

Ashland made the game interesting in the top of the seventh, scoring a run on a single by Sarah Alley to make it a 5-2 game. Staying poised, got the last two outs of the inning to advance to third-place game.

Stanzel once again picked up the win for the Panthers, pitching all seven innings to pick up her 20th win of the season.

Contact: Sarah Twiggs
twiggss@ohiodominican.edu