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UNLEASH THE GRIZZ

Oakland University Athletics

Scoreboard

SB vs NKU 2024
7
Winner Oakland OAKLAND 8-7
4
Northern Ky. NORTHERN 7-9
Winner
Oakland OAKLAND
8-7
7
Final
4
Northern Ky. NORTHERN
7-9
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Oakland OAKLAND 2 2 1 0 0 2 0 7 9 2
Northern Ky. NORTHERN 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 4 9 1

W: Campbell, Sydney (5-4) L: M. Eads (6-6)

1
Oakland OAK 8-8
2
Winner Northern Ky. NORTHERN 8-9
Oakland OAK
8-8
1
Final
2
Northern Ky. NORTHERN
8-9
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Oakland OAK 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 0
Northern Ky. NORTHERN 0 0 0 1 0 1 X 2 5 0

W: L. Hicks (5-4) L: Newton, Mary (1-1)

Game Recap: Softball | | Gracie Murray

Golden Grizzlies Split First Pair of Games with Norse

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - The Golden Grizzlies and the Norse geared up for their first meeting since the 2023 Horizon League Championship game. With a playoff-like atmosphere, The Golden Grizzlies and Norse came out of day one evenly matched, splitting the first two games of league play.

Game 1

The Golden Grizzlies started the championship rematch series on fire, dominating game number one of the weekend against the Norse. 

At the outset of the game, Reese Ruhlman kicked it off with a lead-off single down the left field line. Madi Herrington followed suit, reaching first base on a fielder's choice, moving Ruhlman to second base. 

Jen Krizka stepped up and dropped a sacrifice bunt, advancing both runners into scoring position. 

Maggie Murphy flew out to right field, carrying enough distance for  Ruhlman to tag up from third base and cross the plate to get the Golden Grizzlies ahead 1-0.

With Herrington on third with two outs, Kamryn Troyer wanted to join the party, connecting for an RBI single to left field, scoring  Herrington from third base as the Golden Grizzlies set the tone with a 2-0 lead. 

The Golden Grizzlies had no intention of stopping their momentum, maintaining their high octane pace in the top of the second inning. Maci Brown started the inning off with a single to right field. Two batters later, Allisa DiPrima provided some  fire from the nine spot, lifting a triple to deep left field, scoring Maci Brown to extend the Golden Grizzlies' lead to 3-0. Ruhlman popped a sacrifice  fly ball, scoring DiPrima to make it 4-0, Oakland as the Golden Grizzlies played some of their best ball.

Northern Kentucky responded with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning, trailing once again by three runs, with the score now 4-1.

Krizka continued her all-world start to the season in the top of the third inning, blasting her second home run of the season to straight away center field and over the gate, putting Oakland up 5-1.

The next three innings were quiet on both sides, largely thanks to Sydney Campbell's work in the circle. The redshirt senior allowed just two hits from innings three to six as she handed out a healthy sharing of ground outs to the Norse. 

The Golden Grizzly bats returned to their early game form in the top of the sixth as a two-out single from Herrington scored a run, and DiPrima scored her second run of the game on a wild-pitch walk to Krizka as Oakland took a 7-1 lead.

NKU tagged on another run with a single up the middle to  make it a 7-2 game in the bottom of the sixth. The Norse didn't go away quietly as Olivia Paston hit a two-out, two-run dinger in the bottom of the seventh to cut Oakland's lead to three runs at 7-4. With the game on the line, Kamryn Troyer capped off her incredible game with a game-ending diving catch in right field to secure Oakland's eighth win of the season.

Along with a game-saving catch, Troyer led the team with three hits, going 3-4 at the plate. DiPrima joined her as the only Golden Grizzlies to achieve multiple hits as she went 2-3. Krizka added to her team-high RBI totals, bringing around two runs in the game.

Campbell earned her fifth win of the year, pitching her third complete game of the season. The Oakland defense shined in the game, making several key plays to end innings and force NKU to repeatedly leave runners in scoring position.


GAME 2

The second game was the complete opposite of the series opener, on both sides.

Neither team saw any action at the plate for the first two innings, with pitching being the premium as Alyssa Balcom took the mound for Oakland.

The Golden Grizzlies provided the freshman pitcher with some run support in the top of the third where Krizka hit a double to right center field, scoring Ruhlman who earlier reached base on a walk, to get Oakland on the board and a 1-0 lead. 

The Norse evened the score in the bottom of the fourth, using a two-out RBI single from Tatum Biddle to knot the game at 1-1.

In the top of the fifth inning Oakland came out swinging, threatening to open the game up like they did earlier in the day. Back at the plate, Ruhlman doubled down the left field line, and after a sacrifice bunt from Herrington to move Ruhlman over to second, and Krizka drew a walk to put runners on base for a chance to extend the lead, but Oakland struggled to bring those runners home as a strikeout and pop out ended the inning, keeping the game tied at one a piece for the time being.

With extra innings looking like it may be needed for either team to create a lead, NKU snatched the game in the bottom of the sixth inning as Pastin hit her second home run of the series, putting NKU ahead 2-1.

Oakland couldn't keep the ball rolling, falling to NKU 2-1 as the teams split the first two games of the series.

Krizka went 2-2 from the plate with a pair of walks as she earned her eighth multi-hit game of the season. Ruhlman and Carraway also scored hits in the game as the only other Oakland players to get hits.

Despite the loss in the circle, Balcom tossed a very good four innings, allowing just two hits and one run.

The Golden Grizzlies and the Norse battle for a tie-breaking series finale tomorrow, Mar. 16 at 12 p.m.

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