ROCHESTER, Mich. - After a rough first day of the series, the Golden Grizzlies looked to bounce back and make up some ground in the Horizon League standings in their final home game of the season against Robert Morris.

The Colonials had Campbell's number early, earning four hits in their first five batters as Catalina Saxen knocked an RBI single to right field, putting a run on the board early for RMU. Charlotte Grover knocked the fourth single, loading the bases with one out. Jess Matheny lined a shot down the right field line, bringing around two more runs as the Colonials added two more to their lead, going up 3-0 in the early going. Ruhlman fielded a groundout and made the throw to first to end the top half of the inning, totaling minimal damage for the Golden Grizzlies.

Oakland responded in the bottom half of the opening frame as back-to-back walks to Maci Brown and Jen Krizka put runners on first and second for the Golden Grizzlies. Reese Ruhlman kicked off the scoring, drilling a laser beam up the middle for an RBI single, bringing Brown across the plate and moving the score to 3-1. Taylor Carraway added to the scoring, slapping another RBI single to center field, pulling the Golden Grizzlies closer with the score 3-2 and putting runners on the corners with two outs. A fly out ended the inning for Oakland, but not before closing the margin.

RMU added another run to their tally to their total as with two outs and runners on the corners, a ball took a big, awkward hop at second base, allowing the runner to sneak home from third as the Colonials led 4-2.

The Golden Grizzlies added to the back and forth affair in the bottom of the second inning, scoring a run as Maci Brown came up just inches short of a home run to center field, hitting the wall and bringing Plitz around from second base after she earlier reached on a RMU error. Plitz scored, but Brown was caught trying to stretch her double into a triple as she was thrown out at third, ending the inning but not before Oakland closed the deficit to one run with a score of 4-3.

After Campbell pitched a three up, three down top of the third, Oakland ignited the bats in the bottom of the inning as Krizka kicked the stanza off with a deep double to left center field. After a home run yesterday Reese Ruhlman stepped into the box and exploded a pitch beyond the center field fence for a two-run blast, her third of the season, as she snatched the lead in favor of Oakland with a now 5-4 lead. 

With the momentum now in their favor, Oakland continued to apply pressure as Leah Bieniewicz led off the inning with a double to right center field. She would move to third on a sacrifice bunt from Lexi Grammatico. Bieniewicz was given the green light to go for the score on a grounder by Plitz to second base, but a heads up play by RMU relayed the ball home before Biniewicz, tagging her out and preventing another run and keeping the score at 5-4.

Keeping the bats cooking, Oakland added a run in the bottom of the fifth with Ruhlman starting the effort off with a double to center field for her third hit of the game, setting up Taylor Carraway for an RBI single to center field as Oakland increased their lead to two by a score of 6-4.
The Colonials fought back in the top of the sixth, with runners on first and second with no outs after a single and an error. With one out, Ruhlman made an amazing diving stop at third base, looking the runner on third back and tossing a dot to first for out number two. With the final out needed for Oakland to escape, RMU hit a fly ball to the gap in right center field and appeared to be heading towards the grass, but Troyer laid out for a spectacular diving grab to end the inning and rob the Colonials of a potential game-tying hit.

The Golden Grizzlies kept the pop in their bat in the bottom of the sixth. Consecutive singles by Plitz and Brown put runners on the first two bases for Oakland. With a chance to score the pair, Krizka hit a deep fly ball to the corner of left field. In another spectacular play in the field, Courtney Poulitch made a diving catch of her own, but even with the effort Plitz tagged up and not only took one base, but scored all the way from second base to put the Golden Grizzlies up 7-4.

Campbell assured there were no late game heroics from RMU this game, tossing a scoreless final inning to cap off her 16th victory of the year as Oakland avoided the series sweep, winning 7-4.

Ruhlman had herself an absolute day at the plate, going 3-of-4 with three RBI and falling just a triple short of hitting for a cycle. Carraway went 2-of-3 with a a pair of RBI, while Brown had an identical stat line as Carraway.

The Golden Grizzlies wrap up their regular season on the road as they make a stop in East Lansing for a rematch with Michigan State on Wednesday, May 1, before their season-closing series at Purdue Fort Wayne on May 3-4.

FOLLOW OAKLAND

Stay up to date on everything Oakland Softball via social media platforms Instagram and Twitter @OaklandSoftball.