ROSEMONT, Ill. – Purdue Northwest rallied to defeat Ursuline College, 5-3, on Friday morning at the DII Midwest Region Crossover, hosted indoors at The Rosemont Dome. PNW improved to 3-0 in the first week of action and will look to keep the momentum going in Saturday's doubleheader.
Facing a 3-0 deficit, PNW roared back with timely hitting in the third inning.
Allison Arnold (Tucson, Ariz./Naperville North) ignited the two-out rally by drawing a hit-by-pitch. Then, the Pride followed up with three consecutive clutch hits from
Selena Michko (Dyer, Ind./Lake Central),
Jocey Gault (West Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) and
Briana Poehler (Mattoon, Ill./Mattoon). Gault and Poehler each doubled with the latter plating two runs to even the score at 3-3.
The game remained tied until the bottom of the fifth when Michko blasted her first home run of the season, a moonshot to left center which gave the Pride a 4-3 lead.
Madison Schultz (Lafayette, Ind./Faith Christian) delivered a few batters later with a two-out single which plated Gault for the final run.
Maddison Roop (Hudson, Ill./University) pitched outstanding in relief to earn her first win of the year. The sophomore right-hander one-hit the Arrows over 4.2 innings with six strikeouts.
Michko went 2 for 3 with the home run and also made her first start inside the circle for the Pride. Gault (1-2, RBI), Poehler (1-3, 2 RBI), Schultz (1-2, RBI) and
Ashley Bravo (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) (1-4) each registered a base knock.
The Arrows got on the board first with RBI ground out in the first inning following a leadoff triple from shortstop Sara Fessler. Fessler then homered for two runs in her next at-bat in the second frame.
Ursuline reliever Kelsey Jakosh was saddled with the loss after taking over in the fourth inning from starter Kristin Kopp.
UP NEXT
PNW will play McKendree at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning, followed by an 11 a.m. matchup against William Jewell. Live stats will be available for both games on PNWathletics.com.
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