WILMINGTON, Ohio - The Wilmington College softball team split a pair of Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) contest with Baldwin Wallace University at the WC Softball Complex on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets won game one 7-0 and the Fightin' Quakers took game two 9-4.
In game one, Nikki Camarati, the reigning (from 2019) OAC Pitcher of the Year, got two runs of support in the top of the first inning which would prove to be the only runs she needed. Camarati struck out a dozen hitters in six innings pitched and allowed just two hits – a single to Alecia Kemp and a double to Arianna Layne.
Hayley Suchland took the loss for Wilmington, allowing three earned runs on five hits in 2.2 innings pitched. Alexis Stringfellow pitched well for the Quakers in relief, scattered one run on seven hits over the final 4.1 innings.
The top two of BW's lineup – Macy Leach and Alex Kozich – did the damage with three hits each. Leach also drove in three runs and crossed the plate twice herself.
Looking for the sweep, BW got on the board first in the nightcap on a double from Bridie Bricker that scored two runs in the top of the first. Wilmington answered in a big way in the bottom half of the inning, however. A perfectly executed double steal from Layne and Suchland plated the first run, and Layne scored via a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Another sacrifice fly, this one hit by Kemp, scored Lizz Hadley to put the hosts up 3-2. A Yellow Jacket error continued the inning, and the Quakers made that error hurt as McKenna Archey, Andrea Edmisten and Megan Crager all tallied RBI-hits in the frame. When the first inning finally ended, Wilmington had a 6-2 lead.
After two scoreless innings from both teams, BW got within two runs in the top of the fourth, but Wilmington got them back and more as Hadley singled home two runs and Kemp doubled home another in the bottom of the fourth.
Lindsey Carter got the start for Wilmington, but Stringfellow earned the win, allowing two hits with one strikeout over the final 3.1 innings pitched. Hannah Welling didn't make it through the first inning for BW despite allowing only two earned runs in the loss.
Wilmington tallied 13 hits in the win and had five Quakers – Crager, Suchland, Hadley, Kemp and Edmisten – all tally two hits. Hadley and Kemp both drove in two runs while Suchland and Layne both scored two runs.
Jackie Kasai led BW with a 3-for-3 performance in defeat.
Wilmington (5-5, 4-2 OAC) will head to Berea tomorrow (Sunday) for two games beginning at 1 p.m.
