Ashland & Wayne State To Meet in D-II Midwest Super Regional
Click here for printer-friendly (PDF) version of Weekly Release
ASHLAND, Ohio/DETROIT, Mich. - Ashland University and Wayne State University advanced in Midwest Region play on Sunday and will now square off in the NCAA Division II Midwest Super Regional, a best-of-three series that will begin on Friday (May 21), with the winner moving on to the D-II Championship.
The seventh-ranked Wayne State University softball team (50-11 overall) advanced to the NCAA Division II Midwest Super Regional next weekend (May 21-22) with a 5-0 triumph over Saginaw Valley State University in the "if necessary" championship game Sunday afternoon at the WSU Softball Stadium.
The 18th-ranked Ashland University softball team (36-11 overall) gained entrance to the Super Regional with a 4-1 win over Lewis University (Ill.) on Sunday.
NCAA Division II Midwest Super Region
Series
hosted by Wayne State University
(Best-of-three Series)
Friday, May,
21
Game #1
#2 Ashland at #1 Wayne State, 4 p.m.
Saturday, May,
22
Game #2
#2 Ashland at #1 Wayne State, 1 p.m.
Game #3
“If Necessary” Game
#2 Ashland at #1 Wayne State, 3:30 p.m.
Ashland Eagles (36-11, 20-6 GLIAC)
The Eagles went 3-0 last weekend in the NCAA Midwest Regional Tournament. AU never trailed in the three games. Sophomore pitcher Emlyn Knerem (Brunswick, OH) pitched three complete games and is 23-3 with a 0.80 ERA. Ashland will now play at Wayne State in the Super Regional this coming weekend (May 21-22). This marks the first time Ashland has advanced to the regional championship game since 2002. The Eagles have never advanced to the NCAA Championships…AU and Wayne State split four games this season. On Mar. 31 in Ashland, the Eagles swept the Warriors, 3-0 and 8-7. On Apr. 10 in Detroit, the Warriors repaid the favor with a 3-1, 5-0 sweep…in Sunday’s 4-1 win over Lewis, sophomore third baseman Alyssa Kelley (Mentor, OH) went 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and three RBI. That was Kelley’s first 3-for-3 effort since Apr. 15, 2009, against Hillsdale…freshman catcher Tawna Garver (Mansfield, OH/Hillsdale) was 2-for-4 with a double, triple and an RBI in a nine-inning, 2-1 win over Northern Kentucky. The second team All-GLIAC selection scored the winning run in the game.
Saginaw Valley State Cardinals (30-16, 14-12
GLIAC)
The 2010 Saginaw Valley State
University softball team finished the 2010 season with a 30-16
record overall after losing to Wayne State in the NCAA Midwest #1
Regional Final this past weekend (May 14-16). The Cardinals
defeated Indianapolis in the first round of play, in 14 innings of
exciting softball, by a score of 3-0. SVSU would lose to
Wayne State in the first game on Saturday by a score of 9-0, before
stunning Quincy with a late inning comeback, by a score of 2-1 in
eight innings of play to advance to Sundays championship
round. On Sunday the Cardinals forced the if necessary game
with Wayne State after a 4-3 win, but could not complete the Sunday
sweep as they fell by a score of 5-0. This marked the third
straight season in which the Cardinals had qualified for the NCAA
tournament. The Cardinals finished the 2010 season with a
.302 batting average, while allowing their opponents to only hit at
.242 clip. Saginaw Valley’s pitchers had an average ERA
of 2.28 in 2010, while the opponents had an ERA of 3.39.
Tiffin Dragons (34-18, 14-12 GLIAC)
Tiffin fell behind 5-0 before battling back to a 5-4 score, but it wasn’t enough as Ashland scored 3 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take an 8-4 decision on day one of the NCAA Midwest Regional at Ashland University. TU committed 5 errors in the game, falling behind 5-0 early. Kelly Mayer took the loss, tossing 3 innings and allowing just 1 earned run, but TU managed only 4 hits in the game. The biggest hit of the game came from Tiffany Smith, who set a new TU single season record with her 13th home run, a three-run shot that brought the Dragons to within 5-4 in the sixth inning... Tiffin allowed 6 unearned runs in a tough performance, falling to Lewis 8-3 to end their season in the consolation round of the Midwest Region tourney. TU committed 3 errors, as Amber Young took the mound loss after 4 innings of work in which she allowed no earned runs. TU fell behind 5-0 but then rallied to score 3 runs in the fifth inning. Lewis bounced right back, adding three runs in the sixth inning to put the game away. Amanda Temple had 2 hits with a double, while Lauren Mazzuca drove in two runs with a double.
Wayne State Warriors (50-11, 21-5 GLIAC)
Wayne State advanced to host the NCAA Midwest Super Regional this weekend after recording a 3-1 mark at last weekend’s NCAA Midwest Regional #1 ... the Warriors defeated Quincy 6-0 behind a three-hit shutout from senior Casey Hanes (Richmond, Va.), who passed the 300 strikeout plateau for the season ... freshman center fielder Steph Foreman (Cambridge, Ont./Preston) smacked a two-out, two-run home run in the second inning and later added a two-run single in the sixth ... Hanes recorded her second no-hitter of the season in WSU’s 9-0 victory over Saginaw Valley in a winner’s bracket contest ... seven different Warriors had hits in the contest including sophomore right fielder Alison Allen (Redford, Mich./Farmington Hills Mercy), who hit a solo home run leading off the bottom of the first ... senior left fielder Stephanie LeClair (Kitchener, Ont. / Forest Heights C.I.), who notched her 100th career RBI in the Quincy game, had a two-run double in the first inning vs. SVSU ... after allowing three unearned runs in a 4-3 setback to the Cardinals in the championship round, WSU produced a 5-0 victory in the “if necessary” game.
