Tigers Drop First Of Season, Walk Off In Late Game For Split

CAPE CORAL, Fla. – A rousing 4-3, walk-off win over Newbury helped the Tigers recover after their first loss of the season, a 4-0 decision at the hands of Dominican (Ill.) in continuing action at the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic.

Wittenberg moved to 5-1 on the season with the split, still among the six best starts in the nearly 30-year history of fastpitch softball at the school.

Against Dominican in the day's first game, the Tigers drew the wrong card out of the deck to face the Stars' tough Emily Mahoney in the circle, bringing a 3-1 record with her. Wittenberg was limited to one hit in the game, though the pitching of junior Rachel Ross (Westerville, Ohio/South) worked past three errors and held Dominican to four runs, down from an average of 7.8 per game.

Ross finished with a line of eight hits, four runs, one strikeout and four walks and fell to 2-1 on the season. Freshman Shannon Lance (Loveland, Ohio/Kings) went 1-for-3 at the plate for the Tigers.

In the second game, the Tigers scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to walk off against Newbury, the winning RBI delivered by junior Kaitie Harrison (Springfield, Ohio/Kenton Ridge) with a single to score junior Laura Rose (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins).

Rose scored after reaching on a fielder's choice and taking second with a steal, finishing the game with two thefts and a 1-for-4 line at the plate.

Lance drove in the tying run by scoring sophomore Shelby Knapp (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield) with a single and finished 1-for-4 with two runs batted in.

Newbury had taken a firm 3-0 lead after four innings, but the Tigers pushed one across in the fifth and sixth before the seventh-inning dramatics. In the fifth, it was Lance driving in freshman freshman Loren Combs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin), who herself went 1-for-3 with a sacrifice.

Freshman Kaela Hughes (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) went hitless but pushed across the Tigers' sixth-inning run on a groundout. Ross batted well in the game, finishing 2-for-3 with a double, and sophomore Ashlee Wright (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) was 2-for-2 with a walk and a double.

Winning sophomore pitcher Julia Williams (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) limited Newbury to seven hits on four strikeouts and no walks to move to 3-0 on the season.

Wittenberg continues Spring Break competition with a 9 a.m. game against Northland and an 11 a.m. matchup with Penn St.-Behrend tomorrow, March 8, at the Lee County Softball Complex in Fort Myers, Fla. The weather looks clear with a forecasted first pitch temperature of 57 degrees for the early game, warming to 72 degrees by the end of the second game.

John Strawn '07