TUCSON, Ariz. – The (RV) Northwestern College softball team (17-3, 0-0 GPAC) dropped their first game of the day against the No. 19-ranked Olivet Nazarene Tigers (8-7, 0-0 CCAC), 6-5, and capped off the day by picking up their fifth win at the Tucson Invitational Games with an 11-1 win over St. Francis (Ill.).
Game 1: Olivet Nazarene 6, (RV) Northwestern 5
The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Northwestern’s Jennifer Boeve (Jr., Hastings, Neb.) reached on a error and advanced on a sacrifice. Bri Giordano (Jr., Arroyo Grande, Calif.) doubled to left field and scored Boeve to tie the game at one.
The top of the third saw Olivet Nazarene post three runs. The Tigers loaded the bases and cleared them with a single to push them ahead 4-1. The Raiders were unable to get the bats going in the fourth or fifth innings.
The sixth saw the Tigers get another run across to push the score to 6-1. The Raiders responded with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth. A Gwen Mikkelsen (Jr., Casa Grande, Ariz.) double advanced Kameryn Etherington (So., Algona, Iowa) to third. A groundout RBI scored Etherington (2-6). Chloe Gallegos (Fr., Carroll, Iowa) singled and scored Mikkelson to pull the Raiders within three.
A one, two, three inning in the top of the seventh gave the Raiders one final crack. Boeve doubled and scored on an Emily Strasser (Sr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) double (4-6). With the bases loaded a sacrifice fly by Mikkelsen got Northwestern within one. It was not to be as a flyout ended the game.
Game 2: (RV) Northwestern 11, St. Francis 1
The Raiders scored the first run of the game on a Strasser RBI single in the second inning. The third inning saw another Raider run on a Giordano RBI double, scoring Jordyn Kramer (Sr., Larchwood, Iowa).
Kramer tripled to left field in the top of the fifth and scored Boeve to push the lead to 3-0. Giordano singled and advanced to second on the throw and then moved to third on a throwing error, scoring Kramer (4-0). A Mikkelsen double scored Brooke Zylstra (So., Hull, Iowa) giving the Raiders a 5-0 lead.
The sixth inning saw the Raiders tack on another run to go ahead by six. St. Francis got a run across in the bottom of the sixth (6-1).
Northwestern pushed across five more runs in the seventh to wrap up their fifth win in the Tucson Invitational.
Mikkelson notched a four-for-four game with two RBIs and two runs. Giordano had three hits and two RBIs. Boeve, Kramer, and Strasser also had multi-hit games. Kate Kralik (Fr., Indianola, Iowa) threw a complete game only giving up one run and five hits.
Up Next: The Raiders will continue their Tucson Invitational games tomorrow, March 12 with another doubleheader. Game one will be against Roosevelt (Ill.) at 1:15 p.m. (CT) and Dickinson State (N.D.) at 3:30 p.m. (CT).
