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Softball Sweeps Heidelberg for First Time Since 2013

Photo by Randy Sarvis
Photo by Randy Sarvis

PHOTOS

WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College softball team won a pair of close Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) games against Heidelberg University at the WC Softball Complex on Sunday. The Fightin' Quakers won game one 3-2 in eight innings and took game two 6-4. The doubleheader sweep marks the program's first of the Student Princes since winning two games in Tiffin, Ohio, on March 29, 2013.

 
In game one, Wilmington opened the scoring in the bottom of the second as an Alecia Kemp double plated McKenna Archey. The Quakers hit three consecutive balls hard in the outfield attempting to score Kemp, but all three were hit right at Student Princes. Consecutive RBI-hits from Shelby Miller and Brooke Lewis gave Heidelberg a 2-1 lead in the top of the third, but the lead was brief as Lizz Hadley hit a home run to level the score 2-2 after three complete.
 
Neither team would score over the next four innings, but Wilmington sure came close, putting runners in scoring position in the fourth, fifth and sixth. Heidelberg nearly broke the deadlock in the sixth loading the bases with one out, but a fielder's choice and a fly out ended the threat. After a scoreless seventh and top of the eighth, Kemp singled to right center to begin the bottom half and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt put down by Sarah Monnier. An Andrea Edmisten single advanced Kemp to third, and Megan Crager delivered the walk-off hit.
 
Hayley Suchland earned the win for Wilmington, scattering five hits over eight innings with two earned runs and two strikeouts. Maggie Hoffman, who relieved Riley Cruse, took the loss despite allowing just one earned run in 3.1 innings.
 
Offensively, Hadley finished 3-for-4 with an RBI while Crager, Kemp and Edmisten all had multi-hit games. Lewis was the lone Student Prince to have two hits.
 
In the nightcap, Wilmington once again scored first, tagging Heidelberg starter Rylee Tomsic with three runs in the first (RBI-hits from Lindsey Carter and Kemp) and two in the second off an RBI-single from Arianna Layne. Heidelberg got on the board with an unearned run in the third, but a wild pitch in the fifth scored Carter to put the Quakers back in front by five runs.
 
The Student Princes mounted one final push in the sixth that coincidentally happed with two outs. Two consecutive Quaker errors with the bases loaded scored three runs, but Suchland relieved Carter, Wilmington's starting pitcher, and got Miller to pop out and end the threat. The visitors would get the tying run on base in the seventh, but two groundouts gave the hosts the twinbill sweep.
 
Carter picked up her first win on the mound, allowing just one earned run on four hits with two strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched. Suchland earned the four-out save while Tomsic took the loss for Heidelberg.
 
Suchland finished 2-for-4 hitting with two runs scored while Carter went 2-for-3 and also scored two runs. Layne added a 1-for-3 performance with three RBIs. Kat Brady led Heidelberg in defeat with two hits and a run scored.
 
"I'm super proud of how our team played today," Head Softball Coach Beth Floyd said.  "We strive to get better every day. Our pitchers threw tremendous today and keep the hitters off balance."

Wilmington (4-4, 3-1 OAC) faces Baldwin Wallace University next weekend.