XENIA — Wilmington College dropped both ends of a hard-fought Ohio Athletic Conference softball doubleheader to Capital University Thursday afternoon. Due to wet conditions at the WC Softball Complex, the games were played at the Athletes In Action Softball Complex.
The Crusaders took the opener, 7-5, and completed the sweep with a 6-4 victory in game two.
"The kids played hard today," Wilmington head coach Beth Floyd said. "They wanted to win. They never gave up. They played hard for 14 innings. We just need to take care of the little things that are preventing us from winning games."
Wilmington took a 3-0 lead in the opener when Kylie Ford (South Vienna/Northeastern) and Elise Mariner (North Canton/Hoover) drove home runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Capital, though, broke through with five runs in the top of the third and plated two more in the sixth to go up, 7-4.
Brooke Byrne (Wilmington) delivered her second RBI hit of the game in the seventh to cut the deficit to 7-5. The Quakers got the tying run on base, but Capital wiggled off the hook to take the win.
Stranded runners were costly for Wilmington as the Quakers left 13 runners on base.
Capital raced to a 4-0 lead early in game two, and stretched its cushion to 5-0 in the fifth.
Wilmington, which managed just two hits in its first five at-bats, exploded for four two-out runs in the sixth. The rally was started by back-to-back homers from Catlin Shilling (Waverly) and Holly Sheets (Richwood/North Union), which were followed by consecutive singles by Kelsey Becker (Clarksville, Ind.), Danielle Monnier (Houston), Erika Lee (Blanchester) and Kaylee Cox (Prospect/Elgin).
"That was a tremendous inning. Anytime you can get six straight hits and score four runs, you know everyone is doing a tremendous job," Floyd said. "I don't think we've had back-to-back jacks since I've been at Wilmington."
For a second straight game, Capital picked up some insurance, this time with a run in the top of the seventh, to go up, 6-4.
Lee led Wilmington's eight-hit attack with a single and a double.
Wilmington will play an OAC pair at Baldwin-Wallace Friday. First pitch is slated for 1 p.m.