April Ehlers outdid herself on Saturday, breaking her own record by striking out 20 Drury batters in a 7-6 loss.
Box score
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The Northern Kentucky University softball team squandered a record-breaking pitching performance and saw a pair of three-run leads evaporate before dropping a Great Lakes Valley Conference game to Drury in 12 innings on Saturday, 7-6.
With the loss, NKU fell to 8-7 on the season and 2-1 in GLVC play.
April Ehlers (5-5) set a single-game mark for the Norse with 20 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings of work, but came away with the loss. Only two of the seven runs surrendered by Ehlers were earned as NKU committed six errors in the contest.
The six errors was the most for the Norse since their last trip to Drury on April 19, 2008, when they committed seven errors in a 14-9 win over the Lady Panthers.
NKU got the game stared well, pushing out to a three-run lead in the top of the first inning thanks to an
Ashley Gates home run, her third of the season.
Drury (6-12, 3-2 GLVC) cut the deficit to one in the third inning after a collision between Gates and
Stephanie West on a fly ball to center field allowed two Lady Panthers to score.
Jessica Farris led the charge back with her first home run of the season, a solo shot to left field, in the fourth inning.
The Panthers made it a new ball game in the bottom of the fifth inning, using an RBI single by Ashley Balasz, followed by a passed ball, a fielding error, a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch to manufacture four runs and level the game at 6-all.
It wasn't until the bottom of the 12th inning that another run would cross the plate, when an errant throw by Farris at shortstop allowed leadoff hitter Amber Hayden to reach first. After a sacrifice bunt, Chelsea King would bring Hayden around on a walk-off RBI-double to win the game.
Laura McCarthy (2-4) got the win in the circle for the Lady Panthers, allowing four hits and one unearned run in seven innings of relief while striking out nine.
West went 3-for-6 with a pair of runs scored for the Norse, while Ehlers helped her own cause with a 2-for-4 performance at the plate.
NKU completes the road trip on Sunday with a doubleheader at Missouri S&T. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Eastern.
