SANDUSKY, Ohio - Third-seeded Davenport faced sixth-seeded Purdue Northwest to open up play in the GLIAC Tournament on Tuesday afternoon, but the Pride defeated the Panthers, 6-2. Davenport bounced back in the day's second game, though, with a 5-3 win over Parkside and moves on to face fifth-seeded Wayne State on Wednesday at 10 a.m. The Warriors (22-20) defeated fourth-seeded Saginaw Valley State before falling to top-seeded Grand Valley State.

In game one, Davenport scored the game's first two runs when Rachel Griffin doubled in Gabby Palazzolo in the first inning and Mariah Cura singled in Lindsay Goodman in the third. However, that would be all the scoring for the Panthers as Purdue Northwest pushed one run across in the fourth, four in the fifth and another in the sixth.

Ellie Muilenburg (9-9) couldn't have asked for a better start in the circle as she struck out seven of the first 12 batters she faced and her team was ahead 2-0 heading to the top of the fourth. In that top of the fourth, Purdue Northwest got on the board, but Muilenburg struck out an eighth batter and left one Pride baserunner on. Then, in the top of the fifth, Muilenburg retired the leadoff batter but the next five reached with a single, single, three-run homerun, double, and walk.

Overall, Muilenburg lasted four-and-a-third innings with five earned runs given up on five hits to go with five walks and those eight strikeouts. In 2.2 frames of relief, Taylor Simon surrendered just an unearned run on four hits with no free passes and a pair of punchouts.

Against Parkside, the Rangers scored first with a run in the first before the Panthers put three across in the bottom of the third. Alexis Koza brought in Palazzolo with a double to center, pinch-runner Urban scored on a wild pitch and Cura scored Goodman with a sacrifice fly to right. Parkside tied things up at 3-3 with a two-run double in the top of the fourth before Rylie Kalina gave Davenport the lead for good with a two-run double of her own in the bottom of the fifth.

Emma Miller took the no decision with 3.2 innings pitched, three earned runs allowed on four hits, no walks, and a strikeout. In relief, Muilenburg (10-9) handled the final three-and-a-third frames with no runs given up, just one hit surrendered, only one free pass, and five punchouts.

Story by: Cooper Weidenthaler