YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A five-homer day for the Northern Kentucky University softball team led the Norse to a doubleheader split against Youngstown State on Friday evening. The Norse won the nightcap, 12-9, after dropping a 12-4 decision in the opener.
With the results, NKU enters Saturday's season finale with a 13-39 overall record and a 5-17 mark in Horizon League play. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. with the action carried live on ESPN3.
Game 1
An eight-run first inning for Youngstown State (28-19, 14-7 Horizon) set the tone in the opener. The Penguins added a run in the second and three more in the third to get to their final score.
Paige McQueen's RBI double in the second got the Norse on the board, scoring
Alina Maher, who opened the two-out rally with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Kate Bartolovich continued her torrid hitting streak, going 2-for-3 in the game and driving in a pair of runs, the first on a solo home run to lead off the fourth inning, and the second on an RBI double in the fifth.
Alina Maher added to the Norse score line in the fourth as well, ripping a double down the left-field line to score
Hayley Curtis, on to pinch run for
Jordan Harbacek after a single. Maher joined Bartolovich with a pair of hits in the game as the Norse combined for seven in the contest.
The loss fell to
Ashlynn Roberts (0-8), who surrendered three earned runs in the start. Paige Geanangel gave up four runs on seven hits and picked up a strikeout in the win for Youngstown State.
Game 2
The Norse combined for four long balls, including two in a pivotal six-run sixth inning, to take a 12-9 win in the nightcap.
Dani Devlin became the second Norse in as many weekends with two home runs in a single game, launching a pair of two-run shots – one in the fourth inning and another in the sixth. She and Bartolovich each had three of NKU's 13 hits on the game, with Bartolovich adding another homer to bring her team-high total to nine on the season.
Kara Meter got in on the action as well with a two-run homer deep to left field, marking her first collegiate long ball.
After Harbacek doubled in a run in the top of the first, one of three RBIs for the freshman on the game, Youngstown State answered with three runs on back-to-back homers in the bottom of the inning to take the lead.
Harbacek reached on an error that scored two runs to tie the game in the third before Devlin and Bartolovich homered on back-to-back pitches in the fourth, giving NKU a 6-3 advantage.
An RBI double and a three-run bomb by Maria Lacatena gave Youngstown State a brief lead, at 7-6, before NKU's big sixth gave the Norse the lead for good.
Alyssa Enrique (1-4) picked up her first win of the season in relief, giving up a pair of runs on five hits. Harbacek struck out three batters without a walk in the start for NKU. Geanangel (15-10) took the loss in relief for Youngstown State, surrendering four runs on five hits.
