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CHICAGO (5/11/17) – The University of Detroit Mercy softball team picked up a 4-1 win over Oakland University at the Horizon League Softball Tournament on Thursday afternoon in the Windy City.
The win in the elimination game keeps Detroit Mercy alive in the championship bracket, while the Golden Grizzlies are sent packing. It is the first postseason tournament win for the program since 2007.
Detroit Mercy capitalized on another strong pitching performance by freshman
Liz Murphy and used a four-run third inning to pick up the victory.
Murphy allowed one run on seven hits in a complete game effort. The win pushes her Titan freshman record to 13. Murphy recorded four strikeouts and threw an impressive 76 of 108 pitches for strikes. The outing marks the 10th time this season that Murphy allowed one run or less in a start.
Sophomore
Courtney Gilbert and junior
Savvy Ferstle each went 1-for-3 with a pair of RBI to lead the offensive output for the Titans. Freshman
Ellie Boteler went 2-for-3 with a double and classmate
Elizabeth Yager picked up a hit, stolen base and a run in two at-bats.
Jordan Manno saw her hitting streak come to an end at 15 after going 0-for-2, but the sophomore picked up a walk to extend her reached-base streak to 28 games.
After two quick 1-2-3 innings, the Titan offense woke up in the third as Yager singled and stole second. Back-to-back walks to Manno and
Laura Villagrana loaded the bases for Gilbert and with two outs, Gilbert singled up the middle to give Detroit Mercy a 2-0 lead. Ferstle followed with a two-run single to right to cap the inning.
Murphy worked around trouble in the first and seventh innings to limit the Golden Grizzlies to a single run. Oakland singled and walked to open the game, but Murphy stood tall and picked up back-to-back strikeouts in the top of the first with runners in scoring position.
Oakland loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, but Murphy was up to the task again as the rookie induced a groundout and sealed the win with an emphatic punch-out.
The Titans advance to game seven of the tournament where they will face No. 4 Wright State tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on ESPN3 at the link atop this page.
