ADA, Ohio — Ohio Northern University swept a Ohio Athletic Conference softball doubleheader from Marietta College Saturday (April 18) afternoon. The Polar Bears won game one, 0-2, and completed the sweep with a 6-1 win in the second game. Marietta falls to 12-20 overall and 5-11 in the OAC, while ONU improves to 20-11 and 11-5 in the OAC.
Ohio Northern broke a scoreless tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to win game one. With runners on first and third and one out, the Polar Bears executed a double steal for the first run of the game. An RBI ground out plated the second.
Senior
Alexis O'Hair (Maumee/Maumee) (2-7) took the tough loss. She gave up two runs on two hits with three walks and one strikeout in 6.0 innings of work. Kirsten Lightel (13-2) tossed 7.0 shutout innings and gave up only two hits. Lightel struck out five and walked one.
Sarah Mayo (Proctorville/Chesapeake) went 1-for-3 with a double, while
Brey Mays (Bloomingdale/Indian Creek) had a single in three at bats for the Pioneers.
In the nightcap, ONU scored three runs in each of the third and fourth innings en route to the 6-1 victory. Jenna Hollar smacked a two-run double down the leftfield line and then came around to score when the ball was misplayed.
The Pioneers got on the board in the top of the fourth. Freshman
Ashlee Ireland (Carroll/Bloom Carroll) drove in
Rachel Montgomery (Massillon/Perry) with a single up the middle.
Jamie Westenkirchner made it 6-1 with a three-run home run to straight away center field in the home half of the fourth.
Paige Ordean (6-5) earned the win with 4.0 strong innings in the circle. She allowed one run on four hits with a walkd and a strikeout. Lightel earned her first save of the season with 3.0 innings of shutout relief.
Lauren Larrick (Leesburg/Fairfield Local) (3-3) started and took the loss. Larrick worked 3.1 innings and allowed six runs on seven hits. She struck out three.
Alison Kach (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) threw the final 2.2 innings and gave up no runs on two hits.
Ireland, Kach, Mays and
Brianna Finck (New Lexington/Crooksville) each had a single for the Pioneers.
Marietta hosts Hiram College for a nonconference doubleheader on Sunday (April 19) at 1:00 p.m. Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
