Tiffin University (34-13) benefited from an error in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Northwood 8-7 and advance to day three of the G-MAC Tournament.
Tiffin will now face Hillsdale at 5:15 pm on May 1.
The game was a wild one, with Tiffin squandering a 5-0 lead midway through, retaking the lead in the fifth inning only to give up the tying run again in the top of the seventh inning.
Tiffin got 4 runs in the first inning.
McKenna Scott and
Tori McPherson singled with a walk to
Jessica Miller loading the bases. Walks to
Macy Brazelton and
Molly Koesters brought home two runs, and two more came across when
Lexi Key got a two-out single.
Tiffin got another run in the fourth.
Ella Esterby walked and then moved to second on a wild pitch.
Gwen McMenemy then singled to make it 5-0, Dragons.
After TU gave up 5 runs in the top of the fifth, it immediately answered in the bottom of the frame with two runs. After Brazelton walked, Koesters got another RBI with a double. With two outs, Esterby laced another single to put TU up 7-5.
Northwood scored single runs in the sixth and seventh to tie the game 7-7. In the Dragons' last at-bat,
Ryan Wallace and Reagen Mengerink singled. An error at second base on Esterby's grounder allowed the winning run to score.
Esterby got the win in relief, tossing 5 innings and allowing 7 earned runs on 10 hits with 3 strikeouts.
In the opening game of the day for TU, the Dragons fell to Findlay in a back-and-forth game 8-5.
Again, the Dragons jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first three innings. In the second, Koesters blasted a home run to make it 1-0.
In the third, McPherson and Miller singled. Esterby then walked to load the bases with two outs. Koesters again responded with a massive grand slam to left field to make it 5-0.
Errors hurt the Dragons in the later innings. Findlay got 5 runs in the fifth and tacked on two big insurance runs in the seventh to seal the win.Â
Esterby took the loss, allowing just 2 earned runs over 4.1 innings with 6 strikeouts.
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