The University of Akron Athletics
University of Akron
Kent State
Zips Fight Hard but Conclude Season with a 11-6 Loss to Kent State in 2016 MAC Tournament
May 13 | Softball
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AKRON, Ohio – The No. 6 Akron softball team season comes to a close in the third round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament after the No. 1 Kent State offense found their stride en route to a 13-6 win over the Zips Friday afternoon at Firestone Stadium.
Akron ended the regular season with a 30-25-1 record and reached the 30-win mark for the first time since 2009 and just the third time since 2002.
Senior Erin Seiler (Bowling Green, Ohio) closed the door on her illustrious career after making her 150th career start and 167th appearance. The Akron ace for the past four years threw three innings, and surrendered 9 runs (seven earned) on eight hits and struck out a pair. Freshman Nicole Best (Broadview Heights, Ohio) pitched in relief of Seiler and tossed 3.2 innings and gave up two runs on two hits.
At the plate, the Zips knocked out nine hits and drew a pair of walks. Junior Savannah Fruin (Delray Beach, Fla.) and freshman Gabrielle Fredericks (New Philadelpiha, Ohio) led the offensive charge for the Zips. Fruin was 2-for-3, with a home run, three RBI and a walk, while Fredericks went 2-for-4 with three RBI. In her last game in an Akron uniform, senior McKenzi Rhodes (Marenga, Ohio) went 1-for-1 with hit a pinch hit single to right field in the fourth inning.
Kent State's bats that were silenced in their loss to Northern Illinois woke up against the Zips and did not go away throughout the contest.
A pair of hits by the Golden Flashes in the top of the first inning aided Kent State to jump out to an early 1-0 lead. Maddy Grimm singled with one out and scored on an RBI double to left center field from Holly Speers.
A big inning for the Golden Flashes increased Kent State's lead to five runs in the top of the third inning courtesy of a two-run home run by Grimm and a pair of RBI singles.
The Zips got things rolling in the bottom of the third inning to cut the deficit to just two runs. With two outs, junior Alyssa Nicholas (Cortland, Ohio) stood on third, freshman Lilli Piper (Norton, Ohio) was on second and sophomore Caitlin Gambone was at first. Fredericks stepped into the box and came up with a clutch bases clearing three-run double to left center field.
The Golden Flashes countered Akron's three run inning by doubling the Zips total with six runs to claim an 11-3 lead pull away.
Akron would not go down quietly as Fruin launched a deep fly ball to straight away center for a three-run home run to cut the KSU lead to 11-6 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
From that point on, Akron was limited to three hits in the final three innings of the game, while KSU added a pair of runs to push their lead to 13-6 where it would stand at the final out of the game.
