WILMINGTON, Ohio – The Wilmington College softball team split its annual "Strike Out Cancer" series with Marietta College on Saturday, winning game one 12-4 in five innings and falling 13-9 in the nightcap.
The Quakers, who entered the game scoreless in their last 27 innings, put the bad streak to bed right away as WC loaded the bases with one out and Judaea Wilson beat the throw home to score on a wild pitch. One hitter later after a Pioneer pitching change, McKenna Archey found grass in shallow right center field scoring two more.
After a scoreless inning from both teams in the second, the Pioneers got their one runner into scoring position on a wild pitch with two outs. Cam Campbell singled and Taylor Watts rounded third looking to score, but she was gunned down by a great outfield assist from Lindsey Carter. Wilmington seemed to use that momentum offensively in the bottom of the third as the hosts blew the game open. In total, the Quakers tallied four hits and took advantage of a Pioneer error to plate five runs. The frame featured RBI-singles from Logann Julian, Lizz Hadley and Mollie Moore was well as a bases-loaded walk drawn by Olivia Doll.
Leading 8-0, the Quakers entered the top of the fifth looking to end the game, but the Pioneers had other ideas. A full count walk opened the inning, and two batters later, Marietta had the bases loaded, which marked the end of the afternoon for Quaker starter Izzy Rothrock. Marietta native Aiyana Hancock entered on the mound for WC, and although she allowed four runs to score on a wild pitch, two singles and a groundout, the freshman got out of the inning preserving a four-run lead with a strikeout and a groundout.
In the bottom half of the inning, WC loaded the bases with one out and four consecutive RBI-singles from Carter, Samantha Schwab, Julian and Archey each plated a run to end the game in five innings.
Rothrock improved to 2-4 on the season with the four-inning victory, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out one batter per inning. Jillian Middleton dipped to 10-3 by recording just four outs and allowing seven earned runs on seven hits with four walks.
Wilmington held a 13-6 edge in hits in game one with the middle of the order doing most of the damage. The four Quakers that strung together four hits to end the game combined for 10 hits with Carter and Archey both going 3-for-4. Camryn Campbell accounted for half of the Pioneer offense by tallying a 3-for-3 performance.
The start to game two mirrored game one, but for the opposite team. Marietta jumped all over WC starter Alexis Stringfellow for five runs with just one out, which came on a sacrifice bunt. Avree Entler entered the game in relief and promptly retired two batters on three pitches to end the inning.
Trailing 5-0, the Quakers got right to work offensively. Although a strikeout stranded runners on second and third in the bottom of the first, WC got on the board in the bottom of the second on an RBI-double to right center off the bat of Mollie Moore in the second. Rachel Berry followed with a base knock to center that scored McKayla Sites, who entered as a pinch runner for Lizz Hadley earlier in the inning.
Marietta made it 6-1 with an unearned run in the third, but the hosts plated two more runs on three hits in the bottom half of the inning to pull within two (6-4). The visitors added two more runs in the fourth, and the Wilmington fielding woes continued as the Pioneers plated four unearned runs in the fifth to take a 12-4 lead. Just like the fifth inning in game one but in reverse, Wilmington came back to plate four runs on four hits to get those four runs back and stay withing striking distance.
Both teams stranded runners in the sixth as Rachel Kazmirski grounded out with runners at second and third for Marietta in the top of the sixth and Hadley grounded into a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded to end the bottom half. The Pioneers added an extra insurance run in the seventh secure the series split.
Amelia Timko improved to 3-1 on the season despite allowing four earned runs on seven hits in 2.1 innings pitched. Stringfellow dipped to 4-5 with three other Quakers pitching in relief. The bright spot in the pitching staff was Makenzie O'Neil, who threw a perfect seventh inning in her first collegiate action.
Wilmington outhit Marietta 16-13 in game two with Julian and Doll both tallying three-hit contests. Every Quaker in the starting lineup reached base via a hit. For the Pioneers, Campbell finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored while Middleton, Haylee Mott and Taylor Airy all had two-hit contests.
The Quakers (11-15, 1-9 OAC) head to Capital University on Wednesday.
