SPRINGFIELD, Ohio - With the 2008 North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) regular season championship still very much up in the air, the Wittenberg Tigers tuned up for their big showdown with rival Allegheny on Saturday with a sweep of visiting Wilmington.
The wins, earned by scores of 3-1 and 9-2, moved the Tigers to a season-high 12 games over .500 at 23-11 overall. Wittenberg will take a 7-5 NCAC record into Saturday's games against preseason conference favorite Allegheny, which sports a 9-3 mark. Wilmington fell to 9-27.
The Wittenberg stars of Game 1 were sophomores Melisa Shock (Bellbrook, Ohio/Bellbrook) and Cameron Catalfu (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland). Shock was outstanding in the pitcher's circle, tossing a complete game three-hitter to pick up her fourth win of the season. She struck out four and allowed just one earned run. Catalfu was in the middle of both Wittenberg scoring rallies as she finished 3-for-3 with a walk and a run batted in.
The Tigers broke out the big bats in the nightcap, rallying for three runs in the first and third innings and three more runs in the fourth and fith combined. Powered by the third home run of the season from junior Julie Ziegler (Sandusky, Ohio/Perkins), the Tiger offense collected nine runs on 13 hits.
Ziegler finished 2-for-2 offensively, one of five Tigers to finish with multi-hit games. Senior Nicole Ottavi (Columbus, Ohio/Whetstone), sophomore Brooke Boswell (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield), sophomore Jade Chivington (Bellefontaine, Ohio/Bellefontaine) and senior Sarah Fetters (Woodhaven, Mich./Maumee (Ohio)) all finished with two hits. For Fetters, that brought her career total to 173, one short of the school career hits record set by Stephanie Zorn in 2007.
In the pitcher's circle, sophomore Rachael Hatcher (West Carrollton, Ohio/West Carrollton) came on in relief and wound up picking up her ninth win of the season. She allowed just one hit and one walk in a dominating five-inning performance.