YSU softball trounces Valpo

Staff report

chicago

Second-seeded Youngstown State scored eight runs in the bottom of the third inning en route to a 9-2 win over No. 3 Valparaiso in the Horizon League Championship on Thursday evening.

The Penguins, who improved to 30-26, will play top-seeded UIC today at 3:30 p.m. in the winner’s bracket finals.

Valparaiso falls to 28-22 and plays the winner of the Detroit-Wright State game in an elimination contest at 1 p.m.

The win marked YSU head coach Brian Campbell’s 200th win at Youngstown State.

Freshman Maddi Lusk went 3-for-4 with an RBI at the plate and fired a three-hitter with four strikeouts to pick up her 16th win.

Senior Maria Lacatena and junior Cali Mikovich each had two runs batted in while juniors Hannah Lucas and Stevie Taylor and freshman Tatum Christy each drove in a run.

For the second straight day, a long ball off the bat of freshman Gabby Magnifico got the scoring going for the Crusaders.

Magnifico stepped up in the top of the second with a runner on — courtesy of a one-out double from junior Lanie Callaghan — and drove a 1-1 pitch down the left-field line for a no-doubt homer to make it 2-0 Valpo.

But the Penguins took the lead for good in the bottom of the third. The Crusaders were one out from escaping the inning without any damage, but YSU used a pair of Valpo errors, three walks, two hit batters and five base hits to score eight unearned runs and go ahead 8-2.

YSU scored its final run of the game in the bottom of the fifth, while the Crusaders were able to get just one runner into scoring position in the final four innings.

With a win today, Youngstown State would advance to the tournament championship game and play the winner from the loser’s bracket.

In that scenario, YSU would need to win just one of two games to advance to their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2006 when the Penguins hosted the Horizon League Tournament.