Behind a three-hit shutout from Sophie Howell, Youngstown State won its third straight elimination game in the Horizon League Softball Championship by beating Robert Morris 2-0 on Friday at Green Bay's King Field.
The Penguins' run in the Horizon League Softball Championship will continue at approximately 6 p.m. against either Oakland or Northern Kentucky in the losers' bracket final.
Youngstown State has now won seven of its last nine games dating back to April 27, and it improved to 27-26 overall.
Howell, who allowed one run in each of her first three starts this week at the tournament, saved her best result so far against the Colonials. The junior from Champion, Ohio, held Robert Morris to three hits and one walk while striking out three hitters on 102 pitches. It was her fourth consecutive complete game in the postseason.
While Howell was cruising in the circle for the Penguins, Hailey Roach drove in the only runs of the game in the top of the fourth. After Avrey Schumacher reached on a one-out error in the infield, Taylor Truran ripped a ground-rule double to left field to set the stage for Roach. The senior outfielder hit the first pitch of her at bat through the hole between the shortstop and third baseman to plate Schumacher and pinch-runner Ashlyn Bishop.
Howell didn't surrender a hit until a leadoff single in the bottom of the fourth, and the biggest threat against her came in the fifth. Pinch-hitter Catalina Saxen singled up the middle with one out, and a misplay on a sacrifice bunt allowed the Colonials to put runners at the corners. Howell responded with a big strikeout of leadoff batter Anna Resnik, and Elyssa Imler made a great defensive play at shortstop to charge a grounder and throw out Meadow Sacadura to end the inning.
Howell retired RMU in order in the sixth, and she shook off a two-out single in the seventh to close out the victory.
Both teams had three hits in the game, and Truran delivered two hits for the Penguins. In addition to the ground-rule double in the two-run fourth, she hit a bloop single in the second that accounted for the only hit of the first three innings. Saxen had two hits for Robert Morris.
Oakland is the top seed in the tournament, and it advanced to the winners' bracket final by beating Green Bay 10-2 on Thursday. NKU is the tournament's third seed, and it has a 1-0 win over YSU and a 2-1 victory over Robert Morris this week. The Penguins split two games against Oakland at the Covelli Sports Complex on April 2, and they are 2-2 against the Norse this season.
