WESTERVILLE, Ohio—Wittenberg softball dropped both games on Thursday to the Otterbein Cardinals, moving their season record to 6-10. The Tigers couldn't get their offense off the ground in game one, falling 7-0 to Otterbein after only collecting two hits. Game two was hard fought as Wittenberg started to gain steam but couldn't pull it out as Otterbein held on through seven with a final score of 4-2. The Tigers now look to play Thomas More on March 23rd at 3:40 in their home opener for the season.

GAME ONE NOTES: The Tigers were playing from behind almost from the start. Wittenberg had base runners in five of their seven innings but could not bring any of them home. It was a tough day for the Tigers as they could only muster two hits and struck out 14 times, leaving four runners on base. On the other side, the defense had difficulty getting a hand on the ball, committing three fielding errors to cap off a trying start to the double header. Katelyn Niswonger and Chelsea Zang combined for six innings of work, allowing six hits, three earned runs, and fanning two.

GAME TWO NOTES: Game two started off with the Cardinals quickly taking a 2-0 lead through the first two innings. That lead was swiftly erased as Elise Freeland and Abby Curnutte blasted back to back home runs to knot the game up after three innings. Unfortunately, the Tigers would not plate anymore runs on the day, and the Cardinals would put up two more bringing the final score to 4-2. Freeland had herself a day as the freshman hit the first homerun of her collegiate career, tacked on a double and a single to round out her three hit performance. Abby Haab pitched all six innings for the Tigers, only striking out one but using her defense behind her to make the other 17 outs. Haab was tagged for four runs on ten hits, while only walking one batter.

UP NEXT: Wittenberg welcomes Thomas More to Betty Doughman Dillahunt Field on March 23rd for a double-header starting at 3:40 p.m. for the Tigers 2018 home opener.