GREENCASTLE, Indiana—Wittenberg Tiger softball earned their 30^th win of 2016 in the opening round of the NCAC Tournament on Friday afternoon. Despite a sluggish start against the Big Red of Denison, the Tigers were able to overcome five errors and erase a 5-0 deficit to defeat Denison 6-5 in nine innings. Wittenberg now awaits the winner of Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw in the 2:00PM game on Friday.

GAME BREAKDOWN

• Heading in to the bottom of the fifth inning, the Tigers trailed 5-0 after committing five early errors.  
• In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Tigers began to chip away as Abby Baker (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) came off the Tiger bench with a clutch double, scoring Charlee Clark (Hilliard, Ohio/Davidson) to cut the lead to 5-3.
• Things got interesting in the bottom of the seventh as the errors began to occur for Denison, leaving the door open for Casey Hobbs (Fairborn, Ohio/Carroll) who smoked a double in the right-center gap, scoring Katy Baumgartner (Fishers, Indiana/Cathedral) and Loren Combs (Cincinnati, Ohio/Turpin) to tie the game up at 5-5.
• The game would go nine innings before the tie would be broken, and lucky enough, the Tigers had last at bats and capitalized on the stalemate.
• Combs led off the ninth inning with a walk, and proceeded to steal second base, while senior Shannon Lance (Loveland, Ohio/Kings) managed to lay down a bunt and draw a throwing error from Denison's pitcher, plating Combs to win the game.

KEY STATS

• The Tigers held Denison to just three hits in the contest, while Wittenberg produced seven hits, two of which were for extra bases.
• The NCAC opening round game saw seven errors, while the Tigers did no give up an earned run to Denison on the day.
• Chelsea Zang (Cincinnati, Ohio/Seton) and Abby Haab (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) combined for nine innings in the game, striking out three and walking none.

UP NEXT

• Wittenberg now awaits the winner Ohio Wesleyan and DePauw, as first pitch is set for 2:00PM Friday afternoon.