DETROIT (4/1/16) – Junior
Alyssa James' game-winning single down the left field line gave the University of Detroit Mercy softball team a 5-4 extra-innings walk off win that salvaged a split against Wright State in the Titans' home opening series on Friday afternoon from Buysse Ballpark.
The Titans (8-26, 1-4 HL), led by a strong outing by freshman
Ashley Mauser, bounced back from a 6-1 defeat in the opener to earn the split on a chilly afternoon. Mauser threw all 10 innings to pick up her fifth complete game of the spring. She allowed four runs (three earned) and scattered nine hits and struck out six, while inducing 21 groundouts to improve to 5-8 on the season.
Mauser logged nine shutout innings, with all four runs given up coming in the third inning. Mauser finished the game with seven straight scoreless frames.
Trailing 4-2 in the seventh, Detroit rallied to tie the game with a two-out two-RBI single up the middle by junior centerfielder
Laura Villagrana.
Jennifer Cottle and
Savvy Ferstle led off the bottom of the 10th with back-to-back hits, before James ended the nearly three hour game with a chopper down the left field line that snuck past the outstretched glove of the Raiders' third baseman.
The Titans took the game's first lead on a solo blast by senior
Christa McGahuey in the second inning. Detroit increased its lead to 2-0 with a two-out RBI by junior
Kristen Garceau in the bottom of the second.
Wright State (17-15, 4-1 HL) answered with four runs in the top of the third to surge ahead of UDM, 4-2. The Raiders strung three hits together and took advantage of a Titan error to plate the runs.
James, Garceau and senior
Katy Severson each picked up two hits in the win, while Villagrana recorded two RBI and
Jordan Manno scored twice.
McGahuey launched her third homer of the spring in the win, bringing her career homerun total to 22, just four back of the Detroit program record of 26.
The win vindicated a 6-1 loss in the opener that saw the Raiders lead from start to finish. Wright State struck early with a three-run blast off the bat of Becca Peterson before Detroit could record an out in the first inning and never looked back.
Villagrana tripled and came around to score on a RBI single by Ferstle, but it was all WSU from there. The Raiders added a run in the third and two in the fourth as Ashley Sharp shut down the Titan bats for the rest of the game from the rubber.
Ferstle went 2-for-3 with a RBI in the opener to highlight the Detroit offense.
McGahuey (0-8) got the start in game one and was tagged with the loss after allowing six runs on five hits and five strikeouts in 3.2 innings.
Junior
Alexis Robison-Kohrs appeared in relief and provided 3.1 strong innings to keep Detroit in the game. She allowed just two hits in a scoreless appearance that induced eight groundouts.
TITAN NOTES
- The Titans won their season opener in 2016 the first time since 2002, when Detroit defeated Robert Morris, 8-3.
- Detroit's back-to-back shutouts against Radford and South Carolina State were the Titans' first since 2006 against IPFW.
- UDM's three game win streak against Charleston, Radford and South Carolina State was the Titans' first since 2012 against Lafayette, Fairleigh Dickinson and Dayton
- Detroit recorded its third-straight shutout win with a 4-0 decision over Seton Hall. It was the first time UDM has done so since 1992 against Loyola and Dayton (twice)
- The 4-0 win over Seton Hall on Mar. 4 was Detroit's fourth-straight victory. The last time UDM had won four straight was in 2008 against La Salle (twice), Western Carolina and Holy Cross
McGAHUEY CLOSES IN ON HR RECORD
Senior
Christa McGahuey is no stranger to the long ball and has shot up the record book in each of the last two seasons. She smacked 10 homeruns in 2014 and added nine in 2015. This year, she has homered three times to give her 22 for her career. McGahuey is currently second all-time in homeruns and is closing in on program mark of 26 held by Kaleigh Rafter.
ON DECK
The Titans and Raiders are set to meet for the rubber match of the series on Saturday, April 2. First pitch from Buysse Ballpark is slated for 12 p.m. Inclement weather is threatening the game, so stay tuned to DetroitTitans.com and Twitter @DetroitTitans for updates on the game.
