Three solo home runs, wild game-ending play lift No. 4 Texas-Tyler past No. 4 Ohio Northern 4-2 in NCAA III Softball Tournament

Danielle Goubeaux

By Tim Glon

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MONTCLAIR, N.J. -- No. 4-ranked Texas-Tyler smacked three solo home runs and took advantage of an unusual game-ending play to defeat No. 4-ranked Ohio Northern 4-2 Saturday morning in Game 5 of the NCAA Division III Softball Championships at Montclair State University Softball Stadium.

The Patriots (39-9) advance in the tournament and will play again in another elimination game against the loser of Saturday evening's game between No. 17 Coe (Iowa) and No. 7 Tufts (Mass.) Sunday at 2:30 pm. 

The Polar Bears end their season with a school record 39 wins against only six defeats.

Both ONU and UT-Tyler are ranked No. 4 in the final regular season NFCA poll.

Danielle Goubeaux paced Ohio Northern's 9-hit attack with a 3 for 4 performance at the plate.

The Patriots scored their first three runs on solo home runs and led 4-1 entering the bottom of the seventh.

The score was 4-2, the bases were loaded and two were out when Goubeaux drilled a single to the right side of the infield.

The ball appeared ready to go into right field, and very likely would have scored both Fought and Decima to tie the game at 4-4, but Goubeaux's shot hit the trailing foot of Tina Mangola as she was running from first to second base.

By rule, Mangola was out and the game ended on the quirky play as both teams stood in astonishment at how the contest had ended.

Cassie Gaye started Ohio Northern's final rally, leading off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single to second base. She went to third on ground outs by pinch-hitter Katie Salay and Cortney Cash.

Fought drew a walk to put runners on the corner and keep the inning alive and Decima drilled a single to left, scoring Gaye, to pull ONU within 4-2.

Tina Mangola then drew a walk to load the bases, setting up the wild, game-ending play.

"I proud of the way we played today," ONU head coach Annette Shepherd said. "We battled hard and hit the ball well all day. It was just a great game. I thought Goubeaux's ball was going through, but it was a shot and Tina just couldn't get out of the way. But we had other chances in the game to score and didn't take advantage of them."

"I just wanted to hit hard," Goubeaux said. "I was happy with the hit, but it went right at Tina and that was a tough break. Looking back - this was a great season. I couldn't imaging a season like we had with four freshmen in the lineup all year. Congrats to them for stepping up and playing so well all year. It was a bittersweet ending to my career. In my final at-bat, I managed to get the big hit, but it just wasn't meant to be." 

Texas-Tyler struck quickly, as Second Team All-American Roo Richardson drilled the third pitch of the game over the right field wall for her 13th home run of the season and a 1-0 Patriot lead.

UT-T tried to keep the rally going, but Kim Blewett gunned down Julie Smith trying to steal second to end the inning. Blewett has only allowed seven stolen bases this season and the caught stealing was the first by the speedy Smith in 15 tries this season.

Kate Bell hit her 14th home run of the season on the second pitch of the second frame, giving the Patriots a 2-0 advantage.

Texas-Tyler then loaded the bases in the second, but Cash struck out Smith on three pitches to get out of the jam and keep Northern within 2-0.

Northern got on the board in the bottom of the third inning when Cash lined a two-out single to left and scored on a double into the left-center field gap by Mandi Fought. 

First Team All-American Liz Decima nearly tied the game one batter later, but Richardson ran down her drive to deep left field at the warning track to rob her of an RBI double and keep the game at 2-1.

Back-to-back one-out singles by Danielle Goubeaux and Jackie Mangola, followed by a wild pitch, got the Polar Bears back in business in the bottom of the fourth inning.

But Stacy Shepherd struck out Katie Cretin and pinch-hitter Lisa Light to end the inning and keep UTT's 2-1 lead intact.

Blewett led off the bottom of the fifth with a single to center. Pinch-runner Jen Smith quickly advanced to second on a passed ball by UTT catcher Courtney Carrizales, chasing Shepherd.

But relief pitcher Kelsey Ainsworth got Cash to pop up, got Fought to line out and Decima to ground out as the Patriots dodged another bullet. 

Cash was cruising at that point, retiring 10 of the last 11 innings until the Patriots' long ball struck again in the top of the sixth.

First Team All-American Whitney Wyly drilled her 18th home run of the season to lead off the top of the frame and Texas-Tyler had regained its two run lead at 3-1.

Stacy Dominique then singled up the middle and advanced to second on a wild pitch, chasing Cash.

Maggie Molnar came on in relief and threw a wild pitch to advance Dominique to third.

Molnar battled back, retiring Allison Hunt and Whitney Haynes on ground outs before Amanda Busby blooped an RBI single to right field, just beating the throw to first by Tina Mangola, to drive in Dominique and make it 4-1 Patriots. 

Cash (28-4) took the loss for ONU, while Shepherd (12-1) earned the win and Ainsworth got her second save of the season for Texas-Tyler.