May 4, 2014
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ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio University softball team (28-24, 12-8 MAC) suffered a 6-1 setback to Mid-American Conference West Division foe Northern Illinois (23-29, 10-12 MAC) on Sunday (May 4) in the 2014 regular season finale at the Ohio Softball Field.
The Bobcats will enter the eight-team, double-elimination 2014 MAC Tournament as the No. 5 seed and will battle No. 4-seeded Kent State (24-18, 10-6 MAC) on Wednesday (May 7) at Firestone Stadium in the tournament opener. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET. The winner of that contest will take on the winner of Wednesday's 1:30 p.m. ET contest between MAC regular season champion Ball State and No. 8-seeded Miami on Thursday (May 8) at 1:30 p.m. ET. The losers of those two games will face off in an elimination game on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET.
Ohio jumped out to a 1-0 lead over the Huskies in the bottom of the second inning on Sunday, as senior Alexandria Basquez (Elk Grove, Calif.) coaxed a leadoff walk, advanced to third one out later by way of a double to right center by sophomore Savannah Jo Dorsey (Grove City, Ohio) and then tagged up and scored when freshman Madison Claytor (Alpharetta, Ga.) lifted a sacrifice fly to left field.
Northern Illinois countered, though, plating three runs in the top of the third to take the lead, then adding an insurance run in the fourth and two more in the seventh to secure the win.
Junior pitcher Lauren McClary (Pasadena, Texas) fanned five over six innings of work in the circle for Ohio.
The 'Cats honored the careers of Basquez, Chelsea Hortman (Cincinnati, Ohio), Erin Lashley (Pickering ton, Ohio) and Alyssa Wolfe (Junction City, Ohio) in a Senior Day ceremony prior to Sunday's game.
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