In the team’s home-opening slate, the Oakland softball team fell to the Northern Kentucky Norse in a three-game series that kicked off with a doubleheader on Friday, March 21, and ended on Sunday, March 23.
Oakland’s three losses from this series shifted its record to 6-16 on the season with a conference record of 1-4.
Game 1: Oakland 2, Northern Kentucky 7
In the first game of the series, the Golden Grizzlies quickly found themselves down following a double RBI in the second inning courtesy of Northern Kentucky’s Brielle DiMemmo. To make matters worse for Oakland, the Norse continued to add to their score in the following innings.
After Jena Rhoads from the Norse singled up the middle, Olivia Pastin hit a double to bring Rhoads home in the third. In the fourth, Mack Brow added to Northern Kentucky’s tally, hitting an RBI single to bring home Victoria Flores, making it a 4-0 ball game.
The Golden Grizzlies finally gained momentum in the fifth after Brooklyn Wyczalek, Alyssa Balcom and Alexa Kownacki loaded the bases with no outs. Despite a best-case scenario for Oakland, the Golden Grizzlies only rattled in a single run on a Taylor Carraway sacrifice fly.
In the final inning, after the Norse expanded its lead to 7-1, Brooklyn Plitz gave the Golden Grizzlies life with a single. Shortly after that, Madi Herrington brought Plitz home with a double. However, Kayla Turmell fouled out on the Golden Grizzlies next at-bat, giving the Norse the first game of the series, 7-2.
Game 2: Oakland 0, Northern Kentucky 6
Like the series’ first game, the Norse struck early in the second inning of game two. After Trinity Robertson homered to start the inning, DiMemmo and Brow each tallied RBIs to give Northern Kentucky a 3-0 lead by the end of the second.
In the third inning, the Norse expanded their lead after Stella Wulker brought home Rhoads with a single. Emma Ginn made it on base on the next at-bat after an Oakland error, while Wulker scored to give the Norse a 5-0 lead.
A home run from Wulker in the fifth inning put the game out of reach for a Golden Grizzlies team who only made it on base twice the entire game, making the Norse the winners of the series.
Game 3: Oakland 3, Northern Kentucky 8
The Norse came to play in the series’ final game, notching five hits and six runs in the top of the first inning.
Despite the hot start from Northern Kentucky, Oakland responded in the bottom of the first. After Herrington reached following an error and Turmell singled up the middle, Kamryn Troyer sent them home with a triple, shifting the score to 6-2.
After opening the second inning up with two straight hits, Northern Kentucky added two more runs to their total in the form of a Wulker RBI single and a throwing error from Oakland that led to Wulker getting home, expanding the Norses’ lead to 8-2.
Although the Golden Grizzlies would score in the sixth inning after the Norse made an error to load the bases for Oakland, the Golden Grizzlies couldn’t complete the comeback, failing to get another hit the rest of the match.
Up next, the Golden Grizzlies will host another three-game series at the Oakland Softball Field, this time against the Green Bay Phoenix. The series will start on Friday, March 28, and end with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 29.
With the Phoenix at the bottom of the Horizon League standings, this series gives the Golden Grizzlies an opportunity to climb the standings.
