No. 6 Ohio Northern wins 2009 OAC Softball Tournament crown with 7-3 victory over Mt. Union

By Tim Glon

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ADA -- Sixth-ranked Ohio Northern won the 2009 Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournament with a 7-3 victory over Mount Union in Game 6 of the Sunday afternoon at the ONU Softball Field.

The top-seeded Polar Bears (35-3) won the OAC Tournament for the third time in school history and the first since 1987.

Northern also wins the league's automatic bid to the NCAA III Tournament. The dates, site and opponent for ONU's first-round game will be announced on Monday.

The third-seeded Purple Raiders (28-16) finished in second place.

The Polar Bears got on the board in the bottom of the first when Mandi Fought led off the inning with a sharp single to right, advanced to second on a walk by Liz Decima, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tina Mangola.

Danielle Goubeaux then blooped a single to left field, scoring Decima, to make it 2-0 Polar Bears.

Mount Union scored in the home half of the third when Mara Palombaro doubled home Anna Horning to pull MtU within 2-1.

Northern got an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth when an error by Horning at third base allowed Katie Salay to score from second with two outs, giving ONU a 3-1 advantage.

Mount Union tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth when Horning ripped a 2-run double to right field, scoring Amanda Pool and Alex Lucak.

The Polar Bears answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning as Jackie Mangola doubled home Danielle Goubeaux and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Katie Cretin to go up 5-3.

Fought and Decima led off the bottom of the sixth frame with back-to-back bunt singles and both scored on a triple to right field by Tina Mangola to increase Northern's lead to 7-3.

The Polar Bear defense was a major factor in the game, converting four double plays and throwing two Mt. Union runners out at the plate in the contest.