CINCINNATI – The Wilmington College softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with Mount St. Joseph Tuesday, falling in the opener, 4-2, and winning the nightcap, 4-3, at the Kinder Morgan Complex.
The Lions scored two runs in the first and two in the fifth to earn the non-conference win in the first game. A one-out sacrifice fly and a two-out double brought home a pair of MSJ runs in the first.
Sophomore Chandler Fields (Delaware, OH/Rutherford B. Hayes) got Wilmington’s fifth inning rally going with an inning opening double. Pinch runner Taylor Hill (New Concord, OH/John Glenn) moved to third on a ground out and scored on a single by sophomore Whitney Edwards (Frankfort, KY/Franklin County).
Wilmington mounted another rally in the sixth inning as sophomore Savannah Hooper (Leesburg, OH/Wilmington) had a one-out single, stole second and moved to third on a single by sophomore Courtney Mackey (Wooster, OH/Northwestern).
Senior Jessie Stewart (Fredericktown, OH/Highland) singled home Hooper, and Mackey moved to third with just one out. However, no more noise could be made as the inning ended with a pop up and ground out.
Hooper was on the lone Wilmington player with multiple hit, going 2-for-3 with two stolen bases and a run scored.
Sophomore Becca Carpenter, 3-4, (South Charleston, OH/Southeastern) took the loss, allowing four earned runs on five hits in six innings of work with five strikeouts.
In the second game, the middle of the Wilmington order – Mackey, Stewart and senior Megan Warren (Grove City, OH/Grove City) – did most of the damage as the trio combined for four of the team’s six hits with three runs scored and two RBI in leading the Fightin’ Quakers to the win.
Wilmington took advantage of three first-inning walks and an error to score in the top of the first, but MSJ answered in their half of the inning. An RBI single by Mackey in the second scored junior Sydney Kelly (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore), who opened the inning with a walk.
Back-to-back one-out singles by Warren and Fields put WC in business in the fifth inning. Edwards cashed in a run with a two-out single. MSJ got the run back in the bottom of the fifth.
However, Wilmington kept the pressure on by scoring in the sixth as consecutive one-out doubles by Mackey and Stewart plated a run. A two-out double pulled the Lions back to within a run in the sixth, and it would be the last chance for MSJ.
Mackey finished 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and two stolen bases.
Freshman Megan Joyner, 3-2, (Worton, MD/Kent County) earned the win, allowing two earned runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings. She added three strikeouts and two walks. Carpenter tallied her first career save, allowing an unearned run on just one hit in 2 1/3 innings.
Wilmington (6-6) travels to Tiffin to face Heidelberg in the Ohio Athletic Conference opener for both teams.
