Rochester, Mich. – The Youngstown State softball team scored eight runs over the last two innings to pick up its 30th win of the season after a 9-3 victory over Oakland on Friday afternoon at the Oakland Softball Field.
Senior Emma Gilkerson belted home runs in the sixth and seventh innings while going 2-for-4 with five runs batted in while sophomore Ayla Ray went 4-for-4 with a double, triple and four RBIs to lead the Penguins, who improve to 30-17 overall and 13-3 in Horizon League play.
Senior Kennedy Dean went 2-for-3 with three runs scored, and freshman Kennedy Kimball earned her 11th win on the year and improved to 7-1 in league play by tossing a complete-game with four strikeouts.
With the loss, the Golden Grizzlies fall to 24-21 overall and 8-8 in league play.
With the Penguins trailing 3-1, Naomi Bottomlee led off the top of the sixth with a single to left field and Gilkerson clubbed her 11th home run of the season, two-run shot to left field, to knot the game at 3-3. After a pop out, Dean doubled to right-center and Ray followed with a double down the right-field line to plate Dean with the go-ahead run and a 4-3 lead.
Leila Staszak, who went 2-for-3, singled up the middle and Bella Meyer, who was 2-for-4, had a bunt single to put runners at first and second to lead off the top of the seventh. Gilkerson launched a towering one-out, three-run blast, her 12th homer of the year, to left field to extend the YSU lead to 7-3. Tai Turner followed with a single to center and Dean walked, and both came around to score on Ray's triple down the right-field line.
The Golden Grizzlies scored the first two runs of the game before the Penguins cut the lead in half on a Ray run-scoring single to plate Dean in the top of the fourth inning. Oakland added another run in the bottom half of the frame to regain a two-run advantage, 3-1.
From that point, Kimball retired the last 10 batters she faced through the final 3.1 innings of the game.
Youngstown State and Oakland close out the series with a doubleheader, Saturday, May 2. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m. in Rochester, Mich.
