Sabres power their way to victory in NAC Tournament
5/6/2010 7:36:35 PM
(Milwaukee, WI) - Marian University hit four home runs on Thursday evening and held on to win a 7-6 contest against Dominican University in the opening round of the 2010 Northern Athletics Conference Tournament. The Sabres led 7-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh and held on to win 7-6, as the Stars stranded the bases loaded. The #6-seeded Sabres will now play the #2-seed Aurora University tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM at Alverno College.
Marian got off to a great start as Emily Wiesman (Sheboygan, WI) led the game off with a home run to center field. The Stars tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom half of the first.
In the third, it was Amy Malcore's (Luxemburg, WI) turn to go deep as she sent one over the left field wall. Marian made it 3-1 in the top of the fourth as Emily Boehnlein's (St. Cloud, WI) sacrifice fly brought in Rachel Mullendore (Amery, WI).
The Stars took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth scoring three runs. Marian had the answer the next half-inning as they plated two runs in the top of the fifth thanks to Ashley Engler (Waterford, WI), as the second baseman hit a two-run home run.
Marian added two key insurance runs in the top of the seventh as Maria Archie (Madison, WI) hit the Sabres fourth home run of the game. Her deep ball scored Malcore.
Things got very interesting in the bottom of the seventh. After a leadoff out, the Stars recorded five hits and scored a pair of runs. With two outs and the bases loaded, Marian pitcher Cherise Waltz (South Byron, WI) was able to get a ground ball out to first base to help Marian advance.
The Stars out-hit Marian 12-10 in the contest.
Waltz went the distance to move to 10-8 on the year. She struck out three and walked just one.
Malcore led the offense going 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Emilie Jansen (Kaukauna, WI) added a pair of hits. Archie and Engler both had a pair of RBIs thanks to their home runs.
Marian will play the second game of the NAC Tournament tomorrow morning. If they win, they will play the winner of the Lakeland College vs. Benedictine University game on Saturday morning at 9:00 AM. With a loss, they will play Concordia University-Wisconsin on Friday at 1:00 PM.