SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers allowed a pair of late leads to slip away in a battle for first place against defending North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) champion DePauw.
The visiting Tigers pulled off a sweep of Wittenberg to secure the NCAC regular season championship and the No. 1 seed in next week's league tournament. DePauw improved to 12-2 in the NCAC, three games ahead of Wittenberg and Kenyon at 9-5. Allegheny at 7-4-1 and Denison at 6-6 are the only other teams still alive for spots in the annual four-team competition.
Game 1 against DePauw went nine innings before the visitors pulled out the win. After DePauw opened the scoring with an unearned run in the top of the fourth inning, the host Tigers responded in the bottom half with a two-run homer off the bat of sophomore Casey Hobbs (Fairborn, Ohio/Carroll).
Another unearned DePauw run tied the game in the top of the seventh, forcing a decision in extra innings. In the top of the ninth, DePauw's Lauren Godden came up with a two-run double. Wittenberg scratched across a run in the bottom of the ninth as sophomore Abby Baker (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) scored on a wild pitch.
Baker finished with two hits and two runs scored in the game as the Tigers managed just four hits and struck out 10 times against DePauw's Kahla Nolan. Freshman Chelsea Zang (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) was stellar once again in the pitcher's circle, throwing all nine innings and allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks.
In the nightcap, DePauw again struck first with a two-spot in the top of the third against freshman Abby Haab (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome). The host Tigers again responded with the long ball as Baker struck a two-run homer and Hobbs followed with a solo job to take the lead.
DePauw won the game against Zang in relief, as she alowed an earned run in the sixth and the unearned game-winner in the seventh. Wittenberg committed 10 errors in the two games.
Offensively, six different players collected one hit each for the host Tigers. Baker, Hobbs and junior Shannon Lance (Loveland, Ohio/Kings) scored Wittenberg's runs.
Wittenberg closes the regular season with non-conference games against Otterbein on April 23 and Heidelberg on April 26, sandwiched around the league regular season finale against Hiram on Saturday, April 25.
Written By: Ryan Maurer