NKU's Jessica Farris belted her third home run of the season during a 2-1 loss to Ashland in the NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
NKU-Ashland box score | Photo gallery
NKU-Lewis box score | Photo gallery
ASHLAND, Ohio –
Emily Schwaeble and
Jessica Farris each notched solo home runs for the Northern Kentucky University softball team, but it wasn't enough as the Norse fell in two games and were eliminated from the NCAA Division II Tournament on Saturday.
NKU was knocked out of the winner's bracket after a 2-1 loss to Ashland, and Lewis took an 8-2 decision to survive to the regional championship series on Sunday. Ashland and Lewis will meet for the right to advance to the Super Regional round.
The Norse finish the season with a 35-20 record.
Farris would score the game's only run for the Norse against Ashland, launching a solo home run over the left-field wall on a 1-2 pitch from Ashland's Emilyn Knerym to mark her third round-tripper on the season. The shot tied the game after Ashland pushed across a run on a Tawna Garver RBI double in the fourth inning.
Garver would score the winning run in the ninth inning for Ashland, scoring after a lead-off triple and an RBI double from Alex Machen.
April Ehlers (15-14) had a typically excellent day in the circle, giving up two runs on just five hits and fanning 14 Ashland batters to take the hard-luck loss. Farris notched two of NKU's three hits on the game.
Schwaeble would repeat Farris' feat in the second inning against Lewis with the sixth home run of her freshman season. She continued the offense with an RBI double in the sixth inning, but the Flyers proved to be too much, scoring two runs in the first inning and three runs each in the third and fourth frames.
The Cincinnati Colerain High School product ended the game 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
