Senior Catlin Shilling led an offensive explosion as the bats woke up for the Wilmington College softball team in their non-conference sweep of Hanover Friday. The Fightin' Quakers claimed the first game, 11-5, and then took the nightcap, 10-1.
"We hit the ball outstanding today. The way I know we can hit the ball," said Wilmington head coach Beth Floyd. "It was really nice to see our bats come alive."
Shilling (Waverly, OH/Waverly) was 7-for-7 with five runs scored, two homeruns and three RBI in the doubleheader, and senior Stacy Lunsford (Wilmington, OH/Clinton-Massie) stretched her hitting streak to 13 games.
"Catlin's bat was red hot," said Floyd. "She did a great job at the plate."
Freshman Kerri Trautman (Hartville, OH/Field) turned in her best outing of her young career to improve to 2-3, allowing one earned run on one hit with two strikeouts and four walks.
"Kerrie did a really good job of changing speeds and moving the ball," said Floyd. "She moved her pitches inside and out, up and down. She hit her spots well."
In the nightcap, Wilmington gave Trautman early offense scoring eight runs in the first five innings. Sophomore Megan Warren (Grove City, OH/Grove City) started the scoring with a walk in the bottom of the first. Then, WC strung together four straight singles with senior Olivia Hutchison (Mason, OH/Mason) driving home a run and freshman Sydney Kelly (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) bringing home two.
The Fightin' Quakers strung together five hits, including an RBI double from Lunsford and a homerun by Shilling, to score five in the second. Warren brought home two more runs in the fourth inning to give WC enough runs to qualify for the run-rule win.
Hanover opened the scoring in the opener thanks to a lead-off walk, but WC answered with two runs of its own in the bottom half. In fact, Wilmington scored in every inning to record the 11-5 win in the opener.
Hutchison opened the scoring in the third with a solo shot, and freshman Ashley McCray (Vandalia, OH/Butler) singled home another run in the third. Wilmington scored four runs in the fourth, and added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Senior Danielle Monnier (Houston, OH/Houston) picked up the win in the opener to improve to 4-2, allowing five runs (three earned) on seven hits with five strikeouts.
Sophomore Tabby Biegler (Columbus, OH/Briggs) was 4-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI, Lunsford had four hits with two RBI. Warren finished with three runs scored and three RBI. Hutchison, McCray, Kelly and senior Erika Lee (Blanchester, OH/Blanchester) all had multiple RBI in the doubleheader.
Wilmington (6-5) returns to the diamond 1 p.m. tomorrow in a non-conference doubleheader against Franklin.