MIDLAND, Mich. – Ohio Dominican's softball team ran its win streak to six straight as the Panthers kept their GLIAC Tournament hopes alive by sweeping Northwood 2-0 and 5-3 in GLIAC action on Saturday.

ODU (24-26, 11-13 GLIAC) must now win two games at Wayne State on Sunday and look for Tiffin to lose a pair of games at Saginaw Valley to get the No. 8 seed in the tournament.

Senior Julia Suyak (Trenton, Mich.) delivered the big hit in the opener, a two-run single with two outs and the bases loaded that scored Liz Sutter (Mansfield, Ohio) and junior Casey Murdoch (Morrow, Ohio) and account for the game's only runs.

Freshman Abby Lamping (Cleves, Ohio) pitched a gem, allowing just four hits without walking a batter in a complete game shutout win. She did not allow a hit until the fourth inning and Northwood had just two runners reach second base the entire game.

Lamping started a double play to end Northwood's sixth inning, and she worked around a one-out single in the seventh by getting a groundout and popout to end the game. She improved to 11-8 with the victory, her second complete game shutout of the season.

In game two, RBI hits by senior Kelsey Albanese (Westerville, Ohio) and Murdoch in the fifth inning proved to be the difference as the Panthers pulled out the victory.

ODU took a 3-1 lead in the first inning on Albanse's RBI basehit and a two-run shot off the bat of junior Kelly Wallace (Oshkosh, Wisc.).

The Timberwolves knotted the game with a pair of runs in the second inning and the score remained 3-3 until the fifth.

Sophomore Taylor Kline (Bellville, Ohio) reached on an error and stole second, then scored on Albanese's single through the right side. Two batters later, Murdoch doubled to right field to bring home Albanese and give ODU the two-run lead.

Murdoch, pitching in relief, allowed one hit but no damage in the sixth, then set the Timberwolves down in order in the seventh to pick up the win. Now 9-4 on the season, Murdoch yielded three hits in 4.0 scoreless innings of relief. She also had two hits and drew a walk at the plate.

Albanese also had a pair of hits for ODU in game two.

First pitch between Ohio Dominican and Wayne State is slated for noon in Detroit.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu