THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2000

Timely hits advance Northwestern past Lakota

By John Montgomery
Sports Writer

BUCYRUS -- Timely hitting. It's what you need when you face a good pitcher.

You get the runners on in scoring position and use timely hitting to move them around. Simple. Basic. Fundamental.

Northwestern understood that perfectly Wednesday, using timely hitting to upend Lakota 3-0 in the Division II regional semifinal at Bucyrus.

The Huskies used a one-out walk, a bunt single and a hit to right to break a scoreless tie in the top of the third, then scored another run two batters later on a single and errant throw.

Their third run came in the next inning off back-to-back hits.

Lakota had its chances to do the same, but just couldn't ever work a runner all the way around.

The Raiders had runners on first and second with one out in the first and then on second and third with two outs in the first, but couldn't score.

In the second, Alyssia Moroschan was left stranded at third after leading off with a double and moving to third on a passed ball.

Jamie Ray's two-out double in the third went for naught, a runner interference call on a grounder ended the fourth, Ray's leadoff single in the sixth was followed by three straight strikeouts and Kristin Lentz was left on second in the bottom of the seventh.

"The first three innings were the difference in the game," said Joe Wyant, Lakota assistant coach. "We had four people in scoring position in the first three innings and we never came up with the clutch hit to score any.

"The first time they (Northwestern) got somebody in scoring position, they did score them," he said.

"That was the whole ball game," head coach Jan Stoudinger said.

And she was right.

Both pitchers had solid games, with Rachel Kolp of Northwestern striking out nine while scattering a walk and six hit. Lakota's Ashley Lockmiller fanned eight and allowed five hits and four walks.

But it was just a case of the Huskies, who'll play for the regional title Saturday against the winner of the Lima Bath/Whitehall-Yearling game, finding away to string their hits and walks together at the best time.

Kaitlin Stanley drew a one-out walk in the top of the third, moved to second on Joni Johnson's bunt single and scored on Kolp's RBI single to right.

Johnson was then tagged out on a fielder's choice, but Nicole Kain singled right and Amber Ginnever's throw to first was wide, allowing Kolp to score.

In the fourth, Briana Wakefield's leadoff single was followed by Molly Sersig hitting a hanging changeup to left-center for an RBI double.

Those runs really helped the Huskies build up their confidence, according to Stoudinger.

"When you jump out in front to begin with, I think that's a huge confidence boost in a game like this," she said after her Raiders ended their year at 17-9.

But they didn't go down without a fight, Wyant added.

"She (Lockmiller) pitched well and they battled back," he said. "We could have easily put our head down and give up, but they played hard all the way through."

Ray led the offense by ripping a double and single and earning a walk while Moroschan had another double. Maria Lowery, Renee Chaney and Lentz each singled.

And their defense shone at times, too.

First baseman Megan Stoudinger fielded a sacrifice bunt and ran down Johnson trying to score from third, Ray snared a liner at short and doubled up a Huskie at first, and Lentz scooped up a sac bunt, fired it to Ray covering third, who then threw home to Moroschan to gun down Sersig.

And while every loss is disappointing, coach Stoudinger said her Raiders still had a great season and the program, which is less than 10 years old, is always improving.

The Raiders have won three straight sectional titles and picked up their first district crown this year to reach the regional.

"It (getting to the regional) wasn't anything that we didn't think we couldn't do," she said. "It was something that we did think we could do at the beginning of the year."

And maybe next year, too, with all but one player returning.

"Last year, we had one senior going out and we knew we were only going to have one senior coming in, and we have a good class of sophomores and juniors," she said. "I guess you look to them for the leadership, except our senior was our leader this year. Crystal (Miller) did a nice job for us.

"We're looking to next year where we'll have a group of seniors," she said.