Thanks to their 4-3 victory in the first game of the non-conference doubleheader split with Wittenberg Sunday, the Wilmington College softball team secured the first winning fastpitch season in school history. The Lady Quakers dropped the second game to the Tigers, 5-3.
Wilmington didn't waste anytime jumping on the Tigers with three straight base hits; a double by Stacy Lunsford (Wilmington, OH/Clinton-Massie), single by Megan Rachford (Germantown, OH/Valley View) and a triple by Brooke Byrne (Wilmington, OH/Wilmington). Lunsford scored the game's opening run on a wild pitch, while Rachford scored on Byrne's triple. Byrne scampered home on a RBI groundout from Catlin Shilling (Waverly, OH/Waverly).
The Lady Quakers added an unearned run, which proved to be pivotal, in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Through the first four innings, Danielle Monnier (Houston, OH/Houston) was cruising. She had allowed one hit, but still faced the minimum of 12 batters in those innings. But, Wittenberg found their hitting stroke in the fifth.
Wittenberg strung together three consecutive two-out singles to pull to within one, 4-3. In all, the Tigers recorded five of their seven hits in the scoring fifth.
Monnier (12-4) allowed three earned runs on seven hits over seven innings to pick up the victory.
Kelsey Becker (Clarksville, IN/Clarksville) continued her torrid hitting, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored.
Wittenberg scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to earn the split in the nightcap. The Tigers opened the scoring with individual runs in the first and third innings before Wilmington responded in the fourth.
Byrne, who was 3-for-4 on the game, opened the inning with a double and scored on Shilling's single. After moving to second on the throw home, it would take a two-out single by Becker to knot the score at two. It was her 30th career double, tying her for the all-time record.
However, the score didn't stay tied long. Wittenberg, which got the lead runner on base in four of their five scoring innings, broke the tie with a run in the fifth. Hillary Daria-White (Felicity, OH/Felicity-Franklin) opened the bottom of the fifth with a single and eventually scored the tying run on a wild pitch.
Jess Clutter (Englewood, OH/Northmont) suffered the loss to fall to 6-7 on the season. She allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits in six innings of work.
Shilling was 2-for-2 with an RBI and run scored, while Daria-White was 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Wilmington (20-12 overall) returns to Ohio Athletic Conference action Tuesday by traveling to Muskingum. In order to keep their chances of reaching the conference tournament, the Lady Quakers will have to sweep Muskingum.