WESTERVILLE, Ohio- Just under halfway to Orel Hershiser's seemingly untouchable mark of 59 consecutive scoreless innings, Tiger senior Rachael Hatcher (West Carrollton, Ohio/West Carrollton) kept her lights-out streak alive with six shutout innings in a 5-1 win over Otterbein. The Cardinals sought revenge in the second contest, earning the split with a 2-1 win over Wittenberg.
Allowing seven hits through six innings, Hatcher once again lit up the K-counter, punching out eight before turning the ball over to Meghan O'Neill (Springfield, Ohio/Catholic Central) to close the door. Aside from her 29 consecutive scoreless innings streak, more importantly, the Tigers have won in every one of her five starts since March 9.
This time, however, the Tiger offense left little doubt, as they exploded out of the gate to put the game out of reach early with five runs in the first three frames. Sophomore Jessi Allen (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley) joined classmate Maranda Moore (Willard, Ohio/Willard) with a multi-hit afternoon, each scoring once.
Game two went the other way, as starter Brooke Boswell (Hamilton, Ohio/Fairfield) took a hard-luck loss in a five-hitter.
The Tigers hope to shake their splitting trend when conference play kicks off this upcoming Wednesday, April 1, when Denison visits Springfield for a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader from Betty Dillalhunt Field.
Written by: Ben Bradley, SID Assistant