Youngstown, Ohio -- Behind a complete-game shutout from senior Sophie Howell and timely hitting at the plate, the Youngstown State softball team won for the 11th straight game and completed a series sweep of Green Bay with a 7-0 victory on Sunday.
Howell tossed her third shutout of the season and earned her 14th victory for the Penguins, who improved to 22-10 overall and remained unbeaten at 9-0 in Horizon League play. The 11 straight victories ties the school record for the longest winning streak, and Howell set a new career high with 12 strikeouts. The right-hander from Champion, Ohio, surrendered six hits and walked five batters, but she fanned 12 of the 30 hitters she faced in becoming the fifth Penguin ever to record 12 strikeouts in a game.
Green Bay is now 6-22 overall and 2-7 against conference opponents.
While Howell kept the Phoenix scoreless on the mound, Youngstown State's offense scored seven runs on eight hits. Elyssa Imler went 3-for-3 with two RBIs from the fifth spot in the lineup, and Sara Fessler was 2-for-3 with a pair of solo homers and three runs scored from the leadoff position.
After Howell recorded two of her 12 strikeouts to work out of a jam in the top of the first, the Penguins scored twice on a pair of RBI doubles in the bottom half. Fessler was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and she scored two batters later on Jillian Jakse's double down the left-field line. Imler then ripped a two-out RBI double to the left-center gap to plate Jakse and give Howell all the cushion she would need.
The Penguins kept the Phoenix off the board in the top of the third despite a leadoff triple, and Fessler and Imler came through again in the bottom half to grow the lead to 4-0. Fessler led off with a homer to left for her fifth blast of the season, and Imler drove in pinch-runner Reese Campbell-Schaller with an infield single later in the frame.
Green Bay put two runners on in both the fourth and fifth innings but couldn't get a run across, and the Penguins added two more runs in the fifth to take a 6-0 lead. Conchetta Rinaldi drove in pinch-runner Lauryn Swanson with an RBI groundout, and Taylor Truran had a pinch-hit RBI single to plate Truran. Fessler's second solo homer of the game came with one out in the sixth as YSU increased its lead to 7-0.
Youngstown State will look to continue its winning ways on Tuesday when it hosts Niagara for a doubleheader at the YSU Softball Complex. First pitch of game one is set for 3 p.m.
