43
YSU softball sweeps Vikings
By Jim Flick
Canfield
An extra inning, walk-off home run gave the Youngstown State softball team a victory in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday against Cleveland State.
The Penguins kept pounding the ball in the second game, smacking three more home runs as they swept the doubleheader, 3-2 and 10-8.
“All around, a good job by these young ladies,” said YSU coach Brian Campbell.
In the opener, YSU (18-6-1, 4-1 Horizon League) scored the first run when catcher Vicky Rumph slid home on a passed ball.
Starting pitcher Kayla Haslett blanked CSU (8-25, 1-4) and held the lead until the sixth, when the Vikings scored twice to go ahead 2-1.
YSU struck back in the bottom of the sixth when Kristen Philen was hit by a pitch, and Brooke Meenachan slapped a double.
That set the stage for Jordan Ingalls. With one out, she smashed the first pitch into center field for a home run that ended the game.
“I was really just trying to get on base,” said Ingalls. “I was just sticking with the usual game plan. I usually go up there and try to tie up the pitcher and get to the next person in line.”
The win went to Casey Crozier (8-3), who relieved Haslett in the eighth inning.
The second game was a different story. Both teams came out hitting.
CSU scored two runs in the first inning, but the Penguins scored four in the second and added two in the third to take a 6-2 lead.
The Vikings scored twice in the fifth, but YSU countered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 9-4 lead. Sarah Gabel and Philen smacked home runs for the Penguins.
But that lead almost evaporated in the sixth when CSU’s Dara Toman blasted a grand slam, her second round-tripper of the game, which brought the Vikings to within 9-8.
The Penguins breathed easier after Rumph smacked a home run in the bottom of the sixth to account for the game’s final run.
“We were aggressive going into it,” said Philen, who knocked in three runs in the with a homer and a double.
“We knew they were aggressive, so we had to keep with them.”