SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers took a significant step toward a berth in the 2015 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) Tournament with a pair of wins over visiting Denison.

The wins - by scores of 5-0 and 2-1 - moved the Tigers to 16-12 overall, but more importantly Wittenberg improved to 9-3 in the NCAC. The Tigers are alone in second place, one game behind defending champion DePauw. Kenyon is in third place with a 9-5 record, followed by Allegheny at 6-4 and Wooster at 5-5.

Wittenberg has two NCAC doubleheaders remaining, with DePauw and Hiram both visiting Springfield in the next seven days. The Tigers also have non-conference tests remaining against Otterbein and Heidelberg before the regular season is scheduled to close on Sunday, April 26.

Game 1 against Denison featured another dominant pitching performance by freshman Chelsea Zang (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton), who did not allow a run while yielding five hits and two walks in a complete-game performance. She improved to 10-4 on the season.

In the fourth inning, the Tigers provided some offensive support as freshman Charlee Clark (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) contributed an RBI single and Zang added a sacrifice fly. Wittenberg put the game out of reach with three more runs in the sixth inning as Clark drove in two more runs with another single and junior Kaela Hughes (Columbus, Ohio/Watterson) capped the scoring with an RBI single.

Clark finished 3-for-3 in the game with three RBIs and a run scored, while junior Shannon Lance (Loveland, Ohio/Kings) and sophomore Casey Hobbs (Fairborn, Ohio/Carroll) each scored twice. Hughes went 2-for-3 at the plate.

Zang started the nightcap and was nearly as efficient, allowing four hits and a lone unearned run in the sixth inning. She gave way in the pitcher's circle at that point to freshman Abby Haab (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome), who struck out all six Denison batters she faced over the last two innings.

The Tigers were stymied offensively until the bottom of the seventh inning, at which point Wittenberg rallied for a pair of unearned runs of their own to claim the sweep. Sophomore Tori Simek (Conneaut, Ohio/Conneaut) started the rally by reaching base on an error, but she was cut down at the plate trying to score on a double by Hughes.

With two outs, freshman Lindsey Blair (Delaware, Ohio/Hayes) came up with her biggest hit as a collegian, stinging a double off the center field fence to bring Hughes around with the tying run. Freshman Sam Bausch (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) followed with her biggest hit as a collegian as well, dropping a single into right field to chase Blair home and set off a celebration at home plate.

Blair finished 3-for-3 in the game to spearhead Wittenberg's seven-hit attack.

Written By: Ryan Maurer