WESTERVILLE — The Ohio Northern softball team team kicked off the 2018 Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament with an impressive defensive effort and a 2-0 victory over No. 2-seeded Heidelberg on Friday morning before defeating host and No. 1-seed Otterbein 3-2 at the Otterbein Softball Field.
The Polar Bears improve to 28-9 overall, while the Student Princes fall to 25-14 and Otterbein falls to 31-9.
COLUMBUS GROVE - The Ada baseball team scored single runs in each of the final three innings to pull out a 3-2 win at Columbus Grove Thursday evening in their Northwest Conference season finale.
The Ada boys improved to 5-14 and 1-7 in the NWC with the comeback victory. Grove fell to 8-9 and 1-6 in league play with the defeat.
The win ended a 16-game NWC losing streak for Ada dating back to mid-May of 2016.
Ada sophomore Phllip Coulson hurled all seven innings, allowing just three hits and no earned runs. He struck out a season-high nine and walked only one to earn his third pitching victory this spring.
By Cort Reynolds
COLUMBUS GROVE - The visiting Ada softball team came up big late to win a surprisingly one-sided Northwest Conference finale 10-4 at rival Columbus Grove Thursday evening.
The Ada girls improved to 13-7 overall with the win, and finished 5-3 in the NWC. CG fell to 14-3 and 4-3 in the league after the defeat.
"We played well; we put a lot of pressure on their defense," said Ada head coach Troy Erickson. "Teara Coulson had a great day in the outfield defensively. She was all over the place. We played pretty mistake-free softball."
FT. JENNINGS - Visiting Ada lost 13-0 to Ft. Jennings Wednesday evening in a non-conference baseball game.
The Bulldogs fell to 4-14 with the defeat.
FJ scored four runs in the home first, then put the game out of reach with eight more in the bottom of the second frame.
Senior Colten Shaffer singled. drew two walks and and stole two bases for Ada. Senior Aaron Everhart also singled and stole a base. Sophomore Tyson Moore added the other Bulldog hit.
FJ out-hit Ada, 8-3. They also drew 10 walks and capitalized on five Ada errors to score five unearned runs.
Ohio Northern posted a strong showing in its first-ever Ohio Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament appearance, but ultimately fell to Baldwin Wallace 8-6 on Wednesday night at Dial-Roberson Stadium.
The second-seeded Polar Bears end their season with a 14-3 record, while the third-seeded Yellow Jackets advance to Saturday'schampionship game with an 11-4 mark.
ONU won a share of the OAC Regular Season crown with a 7-1 league record in just the program's third year of existence.
