WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Ohio Wesleyan University softball team was back in action in Florida on Thursday afternoon with a doubleheader against Albertus Magnus and Dominican. The Battling Bishops took game one against Albertus Magnus 7-4 but had a comeback effort fall short in game two against Dominican 6-5, staying .500 on the season at 3-3.
GAME ONE: OHIO WESLEYAN 7, ALBERTUS MAGNUS 4
The Bishops got on top early with one run in each of the first three innings. In the top of the first,
Chameron Vanden Eynden led off with a triple and ultimately scored on a passed ball. In the second, Vanden Eynden drove in a run on a walk with the bases loaded, scoring
Lexi Stratton. Finally, in third,
Natalie Russell singled to right field to score
Sylvie Devore.
Unfortunately the three-run lead would only last two innings as the Falcons scored one in the bottom of the third and two in the bottom of the fourth, tying the game at 3-3. However, the Red and Black fired back with two runs in both the fifth and sixth to more than outdo the only additional run by AMC, making it a 7-4 final in favor of OWU.
Caity Journey was responsible for both runs in the fifth with a single to shortstop that scored
Liv Yeary and
Katie Enneking. Both runs in the sixth were scored on productive outs. First,
Rylea Gist grounded out to short to score Vanden Eynden. Finally,
Ryla Zehring followed suit with another groundout to short to score
Rylee Myers.
Olivia Basil (1-1) earned her first career win with 4.1 innings of work, striking out a career-high five batters.
Shelby Morris secured the win with 2.2 innings pitched.
Vanden Eynden reached on all four of her plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a double and a single while adding two walks. She scored twice and drove in one run.
Journey recorded a team-high two RBIs, going 1-for-3 on the day.
Gist, Zehring, and Russell plated one run each. Russell reached on 3-of-4 plate appearances with two hits and a walk.
Myers went 2-for-3 with a run scored.
Stratton, Yeary, and Devore all scored one run. Stratton was 1-for-1. Yeary was 1-for-3.
GAME TWO: OHIO WESLEYAN 5, DOMINICAN 6
Game two was a tight one that started with Ohio Wesleyan grabbing a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Ryla Zehring was responsible, driving
Rylee Myers home from second with a single to center field. Dominican then came back to take a 4-1 lead with one run in the second and three runs in the third.
The Battling Bishops cut the deficit down to two in the bottom half of the third with a run by
Caity Journey. Again it was Zehring with the RBI, this time with a productive ground out to second base. Unfortunately, it was one step forward two steps back for the Bishops as they allowed two runs in the top of the fourth to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
Once again, the Red and Black were forced to respond in the bottom half of the inning which they did with two runs to cut the deficit back down to two at 6-4. First,
Natalie Russell scored on an error that allowed Yeary to reach. A few batters later, Yeary scored from second on a Myers single to left field.
It would be three more innings until OWU crossed the plate again in a comeback attempt, but it was too-little-too-late as the Ohio Wesleyan ran out of outs and finished one run shy at 6-5. Gist scored the final run for the Bishops in the bottom of the seventh, coming around on a
Jessie Spurling single to center.
Zehring (0-2) made the start and pitched the first 3.1 innings.
Makenna Knisley came in in relief, finishing the remaining 3.2 innings. Zehring was 1-for-4 at the plate with a team-leading two RBIs.
Myers recorded a career-high three hits on a 3-for-4 afternoon. She also had one RBI and one run scored.
Spurling was responsible for the remaining RBI, going 1-for-4.
Rylea Gist was a perfect 3-for-3 on the day and reached in all four of her plate appearances with a walk included, also scoring a run.
Russell, Yeary, and Journey each had a hit and a run scored.
UP NEXT
The Bishops return tomorrow to play against Washington (Md.) and Saint Joseph's (Maine) at 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
