AKRON, Ohio - In the opening round of the 2025 Great Midwest Softball Championship, the Ohio Dominican Panthers (26-25) battled the Northwood Timberwolves (26-18) on Wednesday (April 30) at Firestone Stadium.
Ohio Dominican rallied from an early 1-0 deficit to advance to the next round with a 3-1 win over Northwood.
Northwood started off early with a run in the first inning on two hits and an error. In the next inning, Ohio Dominican used a timely hit to pull even with the Timberwolves.
Liana Morreale walked with two outs in the second inning.
Kendrick Sterling lined a RBI triple to center field where the center fielder dove for the catch and the ball trickled away. Morreale scored while Sterling got all the way to third base.
ODU scored another run in the fourth inning, taking the lead that they never relinquished.
Erica Massey singled as the leadoff batter and swiped second base. After a hit by pitch from
Emily Holland and a foul out, Morreale singled through the left side to score Massey. A later HBP by
Saadie Maysonet loaded the bases but the game remained 2-1.
One inning later, the Panthers added an key insurance run.
Avery Mueller worked an one-out walk and got to second base on a stolen base. Massey followed with a RBI double to right center field as the score went to 3-1.
Northwood threatened in the bottom of the seventh inning with a one-out triple. The next two batters struck out and grounded out, sending the Panthers on to the next round.
Marlee Jacobs shook off a rocky first inning to notch her tenth win of the year. Following two hits in the opening frame, she limited the Timberwolves to one hit and one walk over the final six innings. Her final line was three hits, one unearned run and two walks given up with seven strikeouts.
Kendrick Sterling and Massey each had two hit games for the Panthers.
The Panthers will play the top seeded Tiffin Dragons in the first game of the day on Thursday (May 1) at 10:00 AM. The location of the game will be announced at the end of the Wednesday slate.
