SANDUSKY, Ohio – The fifth-seeded Purdue Northwest softball team defeated the No. 4 seed Northwood 9-4 in Saturday's GLIAC Quarterfinal, hosted at Sports Force Parks.
PNW (27-16) advances to play the No. 1 seed Grand Valley State in the semifinals later this afternoon with a start time at approximately 2:30 p.m. ET.
After it trailed 1-0, PNW plated four runs in the second inning and would remain out in front the rest of the game.
Aubrey Shroyer's (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon) three-run double got the Pride scoring started with one out in the second as the left-handed hitting sophomore drove a liner to the opposite field in left. She would later cross the plate on a wild pitch to make it 4-1.
Maddison Roop (Hudson, Ill./University) (6-3) started in the circle and earned the win after tossing four frames, before
Gabby Paliska (Palos Park, Ill./Lincoln-Way East (Wisconsin-Green Bay)) slammed the door shut with a three-inning save. It was Paliska's second save of the year.
The Timberwolves made it a one-run game with the score 4-3 after a clutch two-out triple down the right-field line in the second inning. Then, Roop settled in to retire seven of her final nine batters faced without allowing a hit.
Paliska stranded two runners in the fifth after surrendering a leadoff single and mowed down the side in order to get through the sixth. With the Pride leading 9-3 entering the seventh, Northwood collected a pair of leadoff singles before the final run crossed on a ground out. Paliska only needed four more pitches to end the game on pop up and strikeout looking.
PNW took a 5-3 lead in the top of the fifth on
Jocey Gault's (West Lafayette, Ind./Harrison) inside-the-park home run. Gault pulled a hard liner and the ball got away from the left fielder toward the corner. It goes down as the junior shortstop's seventh home run of the season.
The Pride added another run in the sixth and three more insurance runs in the seventh, while outhitting the Timberwolves 10-8 in the contest.
PNW will make its second straight trip to the semifinals and now holds a 4-2 record in the GLIAC Tournament under second-year head coach Tristan Wilcox. Both losses were against Northwood in last year's tournament.
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