Kim Blewett's grand slam powers No. 4 softball past No. 15 DePauw (Ind.) and into the NCAA Regional finals

Kim Blewett

By Tim Glon

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GREENCASTLE, Ind. -- Kim Blewett blasted a first inning grand slam as top-seeded and No. 4-ranked Ohio Northern defeated second-seeded and No. 15-ranked DePauw (Ind.) 5-3 in Game 9 of the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament Saturday Morning at DePauw Softball Field.

The Polar Bears (38-3) advance to the tournament finals on Sunday at Noon.

The Tigers (30-8) fall to the loser's bracket Saturday at 2 pm and will face the winner of Game 10 between sixth-seeded Thomas More (Ky.) and fifth-seeded Defiance.

Blewett finished 2 for 2 with four RBI, a double and a pair of walks and Tina Mangola was 3 for 3 to lead the Polar Bear offense.

Cortney Cash improved to 27-1 on the season, allowing only six hits and no earned runs in the complete-game victory.

"Blewett's grand slam was huge, obviously, because it set the tone for the rest of the game and got us off a big lead," ONU head coach Annette Shepherd said. "Cortney Cash threw the game of her life. She was outstanding all day. I was proud of how we battled back from adversity after we gave up three unearned runs. Each of our infielders made a mistake, but each one of them battled back from it and was solid down the stretch."

For the third consecutive game in the tournament, Ohio Northern scored in the first inning.

Mandi Fought led off the inning with a walk and stole second. One out later, Tina Mangola singled to third base and Danielle Goubeaux loaded the bases with a sharp single to left.

Then Blewett crushed a grand slam to deep left field, into a wind gusting to 25 miles per hour, to give the top-seeded Polar Bears  4-0 advantage.

DePauw answered with an unearned run in the bottom of the second on a 1-out sacrifice fly by Chelsea Patterson. DePauw loaded the bases with none out on a single up the middle and back-to-back defensive lapses by ONU.

But Cash struck out Rachel MacBeth, gave up the sac fly and retired Brianne Weeks on a ground out to get out of the inning with a 4-1 lead.

The Tigers got on the board again in the third frame with two more unearned runs when Emma Minx led off the inning with a double and scored on a fielding error by ONU third baseman Cassie Gaye.

A two-out error by Goubeaux let DePauw's third run to score when Kelly Schwezler hit a fly ball to left center and Goubeaux collided with Fought, knocking the all free and allowing Rachel Gill to score from second and make it 4-3.

But the ONU defense would stiffen and keep the Tigers scoreless the rest of the way.

The Polar Bears picked up an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Fought led off with a walk and stole second two outs later.

Tina Mangola singled to left to put runners on the corners and Goubeaux attoned for her earlier fielding miscue with an RBI single to short, giving Northern a 5-3 lead.