No. 6 Ohio Northern defeats Muskingum 8-4 in second game of OAC Softball Tournament

By Tim Glon

| Box Score | Championships Site |

ADA --  No. 6-ranked Ohio Northern defeated Muskingum 8-4 in the second game of the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournament Saturday afternoon at the ONU Softball Field.

The top-seeded Polar Bears (33-3) advance to the semifinals against second-seeded John Carroll at 3 pm on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Muskies (26-15) fall into the loser's bracket and will face third-seeded Mount Union in an elimination game Friday at 5 pm.

Muskingum scored the game's first run when Mary Margaret Boda singled home Katie Reese in the top of the first, giving the Muskies a quick 1-0 advantage.

Northern quickly answered with three runs in the home half of the first when Mandi Fought led off with a single up the middle and scored on a double by Liz Decima.

Tina Mangola then laced a sharp single left to put runners on the corners and Decima scored just ahead of the throw on a ground ball by Danielle Goubeaux.

Jackie Mangola capped the rally with a bases-loaded gound out that scored Goubeaux to give the Polar Bears a 3-1 lead.

Northern made it 4-1 in the bottom of the second when Tina Mangola doubled home Mandi Fought, who reached on a 1-out double herself.

Brittany Reynolds hit a solo home run to right field in the top of the fourth to pull the Muskies to within 4-2.

Boda had anothern RBI single in the top of the fifth, scoring Chelsea Kaunert, to make it a 4-3 game. MC loaded the bases with one out in the frame, but Cortney Cash got a pair of ground outs to work out of the jam and preserve the 1-run lead.

Jackie Mangola gave the Polar Bears a 6-3 lead when she crushed a 2-run home run to deep right center with two-outs in the bottom of the fifth.

Katie Cretin and Cash followed with singles and Fought scored both of them with a double to right field and Northern had an 8-3 cushion.

Muskingum wrapped up the scoring in the top of the seventh on a two-out, RBI double by Ally Mazzei.

Cash improved to 22-1 on the mound with the 9-hit, complete-game victory.