#5 UW-Whitewater 5, #7 Muskingum 3

Powerful Fourth Inning Pushes Warhawks to a Win

May 18, 2008

 

SALEM, Va. --- UW-Whitewater overcame a couple rain delays and battled back from an early two run deficit to defeat Muskingum College in the 2008 NCAA Division III Softball Championship. 

 

“I just want to say that I was really proud the way the team came out after the rain delay and we had to go on the bus for 45 minutes, said UW-Whitewater head coach, Brenda Volk.  "They really came back and played well and didn’t let that bother them.”

 

UW-Whitewater entered the third inning with no runs scored, but the game was quickly changed in the Warhawks' favor when they hit three homeruns to score four quick runs.  The Warhawks opened the inning with an Amy Gahl homerun to center field which was quickly followed by two-run homer by Suzanne Gersich to put UW-Whitewater in the lead, 3-2.  Finally, Lauren Cruz sent her ball over the right field fence to make the score 4-1. 

 

The Warhawk's final score came in the fourth inning when Ashley Smith drove a single down the left field sideline, allowing Alli Driscoll to cross home plate.

 

Relief pitcher Jessica Stang pitched six innings for the Warhawks and gave up just one run on two hits. 

 

Muskingum's scores came in the first and fourth innings.  In the first frame, Kari Hoying collected two RBIs when she homered to left field.  Then in the fourth inning, Paige Thompson sent her ball to third base and an error was committed which allowed a Red Dragon base runner to score.

 

Amy Mattin pitched 2.2 innings for Muskingum and gave up four runs on four hits before relief pitcher Heather Martin entered the game and allowed just two hits and one run.

 

“We started out with a lot of ups and downs working on the lineup, said Mattin on reaching the championship.  "I think we battled really hard all year.  We never really got down and we tried to keep our momentum up even when things really didn’t go our way.  It’s been a great year and I am really going to miss our seniors.”

 

UW-Whitewater (37-10) returns to the field tonight at 9:00 p.m. to face #6 Ithaca.  Muskingum bows out of the tournament with an overall season record of 41-12.