SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - In football, announcers sometimes will say that a game is a "tale of two halves." On Monday against Wilmington, the Wittenberg Tigers swept a doubleheader from the visiting Quakers that was definitely a "tale of two games."
In Game 1, the Tigers were forced to pull out all the stops in a dramatic 8-7 victory. The nightcap was a very different "tale," if you will, as Wittenberg scored early and often in a run-rule shortened 8-0 win. The Tigers improved to 14-12 overall heading into a very key North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader at Denison on Tuesday. Wittenberg hits the road with a 2-2 record in the NCAC.
The opener was going Wittenberg's way until the top of the fifth inning, when the Quakers struck for six runs to take a commanding 7-3 lead. The Tigers rallied, however, starting with a three-spot in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI triple by sophomore pitcher Taryn Hensel and a sacrifice fly by junior Grace Wigton.
That set the stage for an exciting seventh inning, which started with a two-out error by Wilmington. That opened things up for a rally as sophomore Amy Myser singled and took second on a throw that missed the cut-off and then freshman Julie Ziegler capped things with a two-run single through the middle that drove in the tying and winning runs.
The second game was dominated by Wittenberg. In the pitchers circle, freshman Rachael Hatcher and Wigton combined on a five-inning three-hitter. Offensively, the Tigers spread things around, aided by four Wilmington errors that led to three unearned runs. Sophomore Sarah Fetters and freshman Erin Meredith each finished with two hits, while Ottavi drove in a pair of runs.