CLERMONT, Fla. – The Wittenberg softball team put together an impressive day with a 7-2 win over 25th-ranked Ithaca College and a 6-3 victory over Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute during Spring Break action.
Wittenberg senior Rachel Ross (Westerville, Ohio/South) kept the Bombers from bombing by limiting them to just five hits over seven innings, allowed two earned runs with two walks and a strikeout.
On the other side of the battery, junior catcher Ashlee Wright (Kettering, Ohio/Fairmont) cranked her fourth home run of the season, a three-run blast that capped a four-run fifth-inning rally, and equaled her 2013 home run total while simultaneously moving her into second place in the Tigers' season records and third place in the career records for home runs.
The fifth-inning rally was mostly for fun, however, as the Tigers led 3-0 by the end of the second inning, thanks to Ross' two-RBI double in the first and an RBI triple from sophomore Loren Combs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) in the second.
Ithaca managed two runs in the fifth.
For the game, Wright finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and pushed her team-leading slugging percentage to 1.000 for the season. Combs was 3-for-4 with an RBI and now leads everyday players with a .548 on-base percentage. Senior Kaitie Harrison (Springfield, Ohio/Kenton Ridge) also drove in a run in the fifth with a 1-for-3 game.
In the second game the Tigers racked up 11 hits, but the final result was in question until the end.
The Tigers led 3-0 midway through the second after an error allowed a run in the first and junior Shelby Knapp (Springfield, Ohio/Springfield) doubled in two runs in the second. RPI answered with a run in the bottom of the second and two in the fifth to tie things up.
A scoreless sixth set up a seventh-inning showdown, and the Tigers were up to the task. Combs singled her way on and stole second before scoring the go-ahead run on a single by Ross. With the lead in hand, sophomore Kaela Hughes (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) then singled a run in and another scored on a wild pitch to complete the three-run charge.
In the bottom half of the inning, Rachel Ross, who took the circle in relief in the fifth, induced a ground out, a strike out and a fly out to seal the win. She moved to 5-0 on the season. Freshman starting pitcher Alyssa Durette (Geneva, NY/Geneva) went 4-2/3 innings, allowing just one earned run among three total runs on seven hits.
Wright finished game two 2-for-4 while Knapp drove in two runs with a double in a 1-for-3 line. Hughes finished 2-for-4 with an RBI.
The Tigers wrap up the Dot Richardson Spring Games with a 3 p.m. game against Rutgers-Camden and a 7 p.m. contest with Trinity (Conn.) at the National Training Center tomorrow, Saturday, March 14.
John Strawn '07