WESTERVILLE, Ohio -- The Baldwin Wallace University softball team picked up an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader split at Otterbein University but snapped its four game-winning streak on the Otterbein Softball Field.
BW (9-11, 5-2 OAC) lost the first game by a final score of 6-4 as Otterbein (10-8, 3-4) scored four runs in the final two innings to earn the comeback win. The Yellow Jackets won the night cap to earn the split by a final score of 7-3.
In game one, BW offense scored four runs on 12 hits as they plated two runs in the top of the first and third innings. The Yellow Jackets led off the game with back-to-back home runs from junior first baseman Mackenzie Brua (Avon) and senior All-OAC pitcher Tabitha Murray (Mogadore/Field). Otterbein scored six runs on 10 hits as they tied the game in the first and once again in the fifth before scoring the go ahead two runs in the sixth.
Murray led the BW hitting attack as she went a career-best 4-for-4 with her fourth career-two homerun game, a double, two runs scored and three runs batted in (RBI). Brua had a career-best three hits in a game as she went 3-for 4 with her third career homerun, a double, two runs scored and one RBI. Senior All-OAC shortstop Lauren Feciuch (Kent/Field) and sophomore right fielder Alison Fiorucci (Seven Hills/Holy Name) each went 2-for-4.
On the mound, Murray suffered the loss as she pitched six innings and allowed six runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts and two walks.
In game two, the Yellow Jackets scored seven runs on eight hits as it plated a run in the third and fourth innings on a wild pitch and a passed ball. BW tacked on five runs in the seventh sparked by Feciuch's first homerun of the season.
Feciuch led the Yellow Jacket offense as she went 2-for-4 with a double, 10th career homerun, a run scored and a career-high tying three RBI. Murray also was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Junior All-OAC second baseman Brittany Lightel (Tallmadge) and freshman center fielder Sydney Kimball (Brecksville/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) each had a hit and RBI while Kimball's hit was a double.
On the mound, freshman Erica Morgan (Brook Park/Midpark) won her team leading fifth game as well as her second straight as she pitched seven innings and allowed three runs on nine hits with four strikeouts and no walks. Morgan has now allowed only two walks in her last three games.
BW is back in action tomorrow (Sunday, April 6) when it travels to nearby Oberlin for a rescheduled non-conference doubleheader versus Oberlin College at 1 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for March 18 but was postponed until tomorrow due to field condition. The Yellow Jackets remain on the road as they travel to Bethany, West
Virginia to play the Bison of Bethany College in a non-conference doubleheader on Monday, April 7 at 3:30 p.m. The first homes games to be played at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds Field is scheduled for Wednesday, April 9 when BW host OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University at 3 p.m.
FOR MORE BW SPORTS INFORMATION, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327 and e-mail at kruple@bw.edu or Assistant SID Jeff Miller by phone at 440-826-2780 and email at jefmille@bw.edu. Fans can access the latest BW athletics information at www.bwyellowjackets.com and we invite you to join us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/bwyellowjackets and Twitter at http://twitter.com/bwathletics.
Photo Courtesy of Lauri Brua
