GAMBIER, Ohio - One bad inning was all it took for the Wittenberg Tigers to end up with a doubleheader split instead of the desired sweep of homestanding Kenyon. In a key North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader between two title hopefuls, the Ladies hung on for a 6-5 win in Game 1 before the Tigers held off a late charge to capture a 4-3 decision in the nightcap.
The Tigers moved to 17-9 overall and 2-2 in the NCAC, heading into a busy stretch of conference action that starts with a re-scheduled doubleheader Friday, April 13 against visiting Hiram. The Ladies are now 8-10 overall and 1-1 in the NCAC.
In the opener, Wittenberg jumped out to a 4-0 lead with ace sophomore pitcher Rachael Hatcher (West Carrollton, Ohio/West Carrollton) cruising along. However, things came unraveled in the fourth inning as the Ladies pushed five runs across the plate on six hits to take the lead. After stranding two runners in the sixth inning, junior Sarah Fetters (Maumee, Ohio/Maumee) homered for Wittenberg to lead off the top of the seventh inning to tie the score.
That set the stage for some heroics for Kenyon. With one out in the bottom of the seventh, the Ladies strung three singles together to push the winning run across, overshadowing a big day for Fetters, who collected three extra-base hits in four at-bats. She had two doubles, two runs scored, two runs batted in and the aforementioned home run. Fetters came into the week leading all of NCAA Division III with 0.64 doubles per game.
Game 2 belonged to Tiger freshman pitcher Brooke Boswell (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield), who went the distance to pick up her second collegiate victory. She allowed six hits and one walk as the Ladies scored three earned runs in the sixth but were otherwise held in check.
Offensively, three Wittenberg players had multi-hit games, led by senior Stephanie Zorn (Grapevine, Texas/Colleyville). She banged out three hits and scored two runs. Sophomore Julie Ziegler (Sandusky, Ohio/Perkins) and junior Amy Myser (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) added two hits apiece. The key to the Tiger attack was success with two outs as Ziegler had a clutch RBI single in the fourth and Zorn scored on a wild pitch with two down in the fifth.