Oakland women’s softball defeated the University of Detroit Mercy in their yearly Metro Series against their archrivals. The Grizzlies took the first game on April 9and then split the double-header the next day. This is the fourth year in a row that Oakland has won the series against the Titans. OU now stands at 16-13 on the season as of April 11th. Let’s look at some highlights of the three-game series.
April 9, Game 1
The Golden Grizzly women wasted no time in the first game of the series. Designated hitter Reese Ruhlman started the scoring with a home run to left center field, driving in teammate Brooklyn Plitz and taking a 2-0 lead in the first.
Oakland remained scoreless for the next few innings. Fortunately for OU, so did the Titans, as pitcher Sydney Campbell absolutely shut down U-of-D. The redshirt senior pitched a shutout over five innings, allowing only one hit and one hit by pitch.
In the 4th inning, the Grizzlies started to mash. Plitz and second baseman Maci Brown hit back-to-back doubles after Madi Herrington lined out. With women on second and third, catcher Jen Krizka reached on an error by the U-of-D shortstop, driving in a run. The Titans would change pitchers after that, but unfortunately for them, the infield kept making errors.
On the very next at-bat, Ruhlman would reach on a fielder’s choice. The Titans’ shortstop would again commit an error, allowing Krizka to take second and Brown to score (two back-to-back unearned runs).
After a Taylor Carray foul out, first baseman Maggie Murphy got hit by a pitch to load the bases. Center fielder Kamryn Troy walked to the plate and hit a huge double, driving in two more runs. Shortstop Jenna Johnston then reached base on yet another error by the Titans, bringing home another two runners. To cap it all off, Herrington cranked a triple to right field, bringing in Johnston and claiming a 10-0 lead.
Campbell would dominate the Titans in the top of the fifth,and the game was called a mercy rule, a 10-0 victory for Oakland and a win for Campbell.
April 10, Game 2 (Game 1 of double-header)
Game 2 of the series proved to be a much more defensive affair. Titans pitcher Jordan Kavanaugh had her best game of the season, going a full seven innings with only five hits, a walk and one run. The Grizzlies just couldn’t get good contact off her.
The lone run came in the second inning courtesy of a Jenna Johnston groundout to second that brought up Kamryn Troyer. Oakland had a chance to score another run in the fifth inning, with Maci Brown advancing to second on a passed ball, but Jen Krizka grounded out.
U-of-D scored their two runs in the fourth inning with a double from Borg. The game could have been very lopsided, as Oakland allowed 14 Titans on base. Starter Alyssa Balcom took the loss after allowing four hits, two runs and four walks in 3.2 innings. U-of-D evened the series with a 2-1 win, taking their first win over Oakland since 2019.
April 10, Game 3 (second game of double-header)
Seemingly smarting after a dreadful offensive performance earlier in the day, Oakland came out and drove in three runs in the first inning. After getting women on first and second, Troyer hit a single to right field, followed by singles from Herrington and designated hitter Mia Konyvka, scoring three runs. In total, Oakland had six baserunners in the first inning, matching their baserunners from the entire previous game.
The second inning was more of the same. Johnston doubled, followed by a Plitz single on a bunt. On a passed ball at home, Johnston scored and Plitz advanced to third. A Maci Brown flyout scored Plitz on a tag-up. The score stood at 5-0 after two innings.
The final three runs would come in an exciting third inning. Herrington got on base with a hit by pitch, soon joined by Konyvka with a single. Allisa DiPrima would take Konyvka’s spot on the base paths. After a Leah Bieniewicz strikeout, Johnston would ground out to shortstop, scoring Herrington. Plitz hit a triple to bring DiPrima in, followed by a Brown single to score Plitz. The score was 8-0 after three.
Sydney Campbell was on the mound again, so naturally she went five innings of shut-out ball, only giving up two hits and a walk with five punchouts. She induced eight groundouts as well. Campbell earned her 11th win of the season in the 8-0 Golden Grizzly win.
