INDIANAPOLIS – The Ohio Dominican softball team began its run in the NCAA Division II Softball Regional Tournament on Thursday afternoon battling No.21 ranked Grand Valley State University to open play. ODU began the tournament in the sixth seed while the Lakers opened the NCAA regional in the third seed.

Fans were treated to a pitcher's battle between senior Sydney Long (Ashland, Ohio) and GVSU red-shirt junior Hannah Beatus. The duo didn't allow a hit from the opposition until the fourth inning.

Junior Braxton Downs (Louisville, Kentucky) was the first player to post a hit for either side with a bloop single into left field. ODU pushed runners onto first and second base as Lianna Morreale (Gibsonia, Pennsylvania) was hit by a pitch to put Downs into scoring position.

Unfortunately, a groundout ended the Black and Gold push to find a run.

Grand Valley opened the bottom of the fourth inning with two quick outs but a single off the bat of Lydia Goble gave the Lakers life in the latter portion of the inning. Another single off the bat of Taylor Rieger pushed Goble to third. GVSU added another infield single forcing a bang-bang play at first base but as the empire was delayed with signaling whether the runner was safe or out Goble crossed the plate to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead.

ODU attempted to answer in the seventh inning as Alexis Stevens (Marion, Ohio) singled through the left side to get on base and would advance to second off a sacrifice bunt from Keirah Smetzer (Ashland, Ohio) but it wasn't enough the Black and Gold fell by the score of 1-0.

LONG THROWS ANOTHER GEM

Thursday afternoon was another classic contest for the ODU hurler. She allowed just one earned run on six hits and struck out four hitters to limit the Lakers to just one run. Long's season ERA drops even further and improves to a mark of 1.58 for the campaign.

A FAMILIAR ENEMY

The Black and Gold square off in an elimination game against the University of Findlay on Thursday afternoon. The Oilers and Panthers have had a tumultuous relationship as the Oilers regular season doubleheader split with the Black and Gold forced a decisive final day of the G-MAC calendar. Findlay also put the Panthers into the consolation bracket in the G-MAC Tournament before being sent home by the Black and Gold to clinch the Panthers spot in the conference championship matchup.

The teams are 2-2 this season when battling one another and set up a decisive winner take all contest in Indianapolis on Friday afternoon.

Contact: Ralph Schudel

schudelr@ohiodominican.edu