The University of Akron Athletics
Softball Rebounds To Shutout Youngstown State
April 07 | Softball
AKRON, Ohio - After struggling on the field in the first contest, the University of Akron softball team rebounded in the second game shutting out the Youngstown State Penguins, 6-0, at Lee R. Jackson Field Tuesday afternoon.
After five errors and an eight run inning prevented the win in the first contest, junior Heather Bauer pitched seven shutout innings allowing only five hits in the second game for her fifth win of the season. Likewise the Zips remained perfect on the field.
Offensively, Akron scored in the first inning starting when
freshman Alissa Birkhimer walked
and Bauer advanced her to third with a double. A follow-up pop up
hit by junior Sarah Stromack drove both
home (2-0).
Not wasting any time to grabbing a solid lead, Akron added four
more in the second inning beginning when sophomore Crystal
Hernandez doubled into the left field corner. After fellow
sophomore Alex Helfrich attempted a
sacrifice bunt, a overthrow to first let Hernandez score (3-0).
With Helfrich at second, junior Sarah Earley pushed her to
third on a bunt and another overthrow to first on senior Krista
Hansen's bunt let Helfrich score (4-0). With junior Alex
Feltes reaching when she was hit by a pitch a two-run double by
Birkhimer allowed Hansen and Feltes to cross the plate for the 6-0
lead and the final runs of the day.
In the first contest, YSU took advantage of three runs within
the first two innings off of fielding errors. Akron got on the
board in the bottom of the first inning when Hansen and Birkhimer
tried to pull off a double steal. While Birkhimer would be caught
stealing Hansen was able to score (1-2). Akron tied it in the third
when Birkhimer hit her second home run of the season to drive in
herself and Feltes who drew a hard fought walk prior (3-3).
UA took its first lead in the fourth off an RBI single from
Stromack. Sophomore Allison Dorr started the
action with a single and with pinch runner Helfrich entering the
game, she would steal second and a sacrifice bunt pushed her to
third allowing Stromack's single to drive her home (4-3). After
freshman Cassie Gleisner put down a
base hit, the Zips would again try a double steal with runners at
the corners, scoring their second run in such fashion (5-3).
The sixth inning was the turning point of the contest as YSU loaded
the bases off two walks and a single. Tying it up when a YSU pinch
hitter hit a solid hit through the middle for the 5-5 tie, a triple
into the corner would regain YSU's lead (5-7). Two additional hits
and errors pushed the scored to 11-5.
Akron added its it final runs in the seventh when Hansen drilled a two-run home run over the fence to bring the score to 11-7. In the contest, just five Penguin runs were earned.
In the middle of a ten game span in the midst of nine days,
Akron will travel to Robert Morris Wednesday for a 3:30 p.m.
doubleheader. Live scoring for the contests will be available here.
