NEW CONCORD, Ohio - The Wilmington College softball team ended its season on a high note, splitting an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) twinbill with Muskingum University for the second consecutive season on Saturday afternoon. The Fighting Muskies took game one 2-1 while the Fightin' Quakers won the nightcap 4-2 in eight innings.
In game one, the Fightin' Quakers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Judaea Wilson led off the game with a walk, and after a successful sacrifice bunt from Logann Julian, a throwing error scored Wilson. A Lizz Hadley single and a McKenna Archey walk followed as the visitors looked to break open the game early. Unfortunately for WC, a strikeout and flyout ended the inning.
Wilmington starter Izzy Rothrock pitched well throughout, but Fighting Muskies rallied with an RBI-double with two outs in both the fourth and fifth innings to take a 2-1. The Quakers couldn't solve Muskingum hurler Hannah Smith, who allowed four hits and three walks with five strikeouts to earn her 14th win of the season. Rothrock allowed two earned runs on five hits with four strikeouts for WC while Hillary Huffer retired the final two Muskies.
Mollie Moore had two of the Quakers' four hits while five different Muskies had a hit in the game with Claire Warschauer and Katie Osburn delivering RBI-doubles.
The nightcap proved to follow a similar pattern as Hannah Hall and Madelyn Thomas worked through the others' lineups as the first nine batters from both teams were retired in order. The Muskies got a runner into scoring position in both the fourth and seventh innings, but couldn't deliver an RBI-hit.
Wilmington got two of the first three batters on base in the eighth, and it took a Muskingum throwing error to break the scoreless deadlock and Julian reached base after a grounder to second. Hayley Suchland followed with an RBI-single to center field, and after a Hadley single loaded the bases, Archey drove in two more with a ball hit up the middle.
Trailing 4-0, the first four Muskies reached base in the eighth. The last two – Taylor Gallentine and Kalie Eshelman – hit RBI-singles to score two runs. A pop out and fly out recorded the first two outs for Huffer, who relieved Hall after the second batter of the inning. A walk loaded the bases and put the tying run into scoring position, but a pop out to Suchland ended the game.
Hall won the first game of her collegiate career in her final game, allowing two earned runs on five hits in seven-plus innings. Huffer got the save, recording the final three outs. Thomas, despite eight strikeouts and zero earned runs allowed, took the loss for the Muskies.
Both teams finished with seven hits, all of them singles, with Archey's 2-for-4 performance with two RBIs being the Quaker to have a multi-hit game. Gallentine led Muskingum in defeat, going 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Wilmington finishes its 2022 season with a 13-19 overall record including a 6-12 mark in OAC competition. Two of those conference wins were against the league's top two teams – Ohio Northern and Muskingum.
