For the first time since moving up to NCAA Division I 11 years ago, the Northern Kentucky University softball team is heading to the NCAA Tournament.
NKU beat Oakland 2-1 Saturday in the championship game of the Horizon League Tournament in Green Bay.
The Norse qualify for the 64-team tournament. The bracket will be revealed 7 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.
“It’s overwhelming” said NKU head coach Kathryn Gleason on the ESPN+ broadcast. “Every year I tell my recruits who come into my office that my top shelf is for the Horizon League championship. This is for every player and coach that has ever come through the program. Since we’ve been Division I, it’s been women’s soccer, then men’s basketball and volleyball, and now we’re part of the club.”
The Norse bounced back after losing 4-2 to Oakland in the first game of the finals. Since it was a double-elimination tournament, Oakland had to beat the Norse twice after the Norse went 3-0 to reach the finals.
NKU was the third seed in the tournament, its highest in team history, with a 13-9 record and are 23-30 entering the NCAA Tournament. Oakland (20-22) was the No. 1 seed with a 14-7 record in the regular season.
The Norse won the tournament with dominant pitching, allowing eight runs and 20 hits in the five games. Four of the runs and nine of the hits came in the loss to Oakland earlier in the day.
In the championship game, NKU allowed four hits. The Norse walked nine batters but stranded 13 Oakland runners on the bases in the game.
Lauryn Hicks started and pitching four innings, giving up one run on two hits. The Grizzlies loaded the bases in the fourth inning with no outs, but Hicks struck out the next three batters.
Madisyn Eads and Alicia Flores pitched shutout relief. Flores gave up one hit in 1.2 innings. Jena Rhoads (Wilmington) drove in the winning run with a double.
Flores pitched a two-hit complete game in the first round against Youngstown State, a 1-0 win. Hicks pitched a complete-game one-hitter the next round against Robert Morris, striking out 18 as the game went extra innings, with NKU winning 2-1 in eight. The 18 strikeouts is an NKU Division I record and tied for sixth for the most by any pitcher in DI this season.
Hicks pitched another eight-inning complete game as NKU beat Oakland 4-2 in the third round. She gave up four hits and two unearned runs, striking out eight. Flores then gave up two runs in six innings in the loss to Oakland.
Hicks and Flores made history earlier in the season when both threw no-hitters against Detroit Mercy during a three-game sweep of the Titans April 14-15. Those are the only two no-hitters in NKU’s DI history.
“Outstanding,” Gleason said. “Lauren pitched a great game last night and we knew Alicia was a different look for them. We talked pitching all year. They were all outstanding. They’re competitors.
On offense, Megan Lenhart drove in runs in three of the close wins. Maggie Lacer had six hits.
Against RMU, Lenhart drove in the winning run in the top of the eighth after Lacer led off with a single and advanced to third on an error.
Against YSU, Lenhart had a two-out single for the only RBI in the game after Lacer walked and Brielle Dimemmo got a single. In the first win over Oakland, Dimemmo hit a two-out, two-run single for the winning runs.
The Norse have four local products: Jena Rhoads (Wilmington), Sydni Barnes (Western Brown), Megan Kincer (East Central) and Kaylee McGinn (Dixie Heights).
“I told everybody all year, this is the most enjoyable group I’ve ever had,” Gleason said. “They love each other, they like being around each other. Every day at practice is enjoyable because they love being around each other.
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