SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - The Wittenberg Tigers opened the home portion of the 2007 season with a bang, topping visiting Baldwin-Wallace by scores of 8-0 and 11-9.
The wins ended the three-game losing streak that the Tigers endured on their annual Spring Break trip to Kissimmee, Fla., and pushed Wittenberg's record out to 7-5 overall. Baldwin-Wallace, which was originally scheduled to host Saturday's doubleheader before Mother Nature intervened with her latest blast of cold weather, dropped to 5-7 on the young season.
Offense may earn the headlines on this day, but it was pitching that started it all off for Wittenberg. Sophomore Rachael Hatcher (West Carrollton, Ohio/West Carrollton) tossed a one-hitter for her fourth win of the season in the opener, and she was ably backed by Wittenberg's 10-hit attack.
Junior Sarah Fetters (Maumee, Ohio/Maumee), junior Erin Meredith (Noblesville, Ind./Noblesville), freshman Cameron Catalfu (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland) and senior Lucy Huelsman (Wellington, Ohio/Wellington) scored two runs apiece for the Tigers, who ended things an inning early by reaching the eight-run plateau in the bottom of the sixth inning. Senior Stephanie Zorn (Grapevine, Texas/Colleyville) drove in two runs and Huelsman provided the biggest blow of the game with a grand slam in the fifth inning, the first of her career.
The nightcap was a wild affair as the two traded the lead while committing eight combined errors and banging out a whopping 27 hits. The Tigers got the best of things with a seven-run fifth inning, their biggest scoring output of the season, and BW's seventh-inning rally came up just short.
The offensive heroes were many for the Tigers, starting with Fetters, Meredith and Catalfu, the top three hitters in the Wittenberg lineup. They combined for eight hits, four runs and seven runs batted in. Catalfu's three-run double in the fifth was the biggest blow of the game and provided the winning margin.
All that offense made a winner out of senior Grace Wigton (Worthington, Ohio/Christian), who tossed three innings in relief. She and freshman starter Brooke Boswell (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield) overcame six Wittenberg errors on a frigid late-winter afternoon.
The Tigers wrap up their unexpected weekend homestand with a doubleheader Sunday against John Carroll. First pitch is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.