SPRINGFIELD, OHIO — For the first time in program history, a Wittenberg softball pitcher set 21 straight batters down as freshman Rachel Ross (Westerville, Ohio/South) tossed a perfect game to send her team to a doubleheader sweep of visiting Oberlin College.
The Tigers improved to 13-20 overall and got back to even at 7-7 in the North Coast Athletic Conference thanks to wins of 2-0 and 12-4 on Saturday, and in the process clinched a bid to the league tournament, scheduled for Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7.
Ross made history with three strikeouts and zeroes in the rest of the columns to earn her seventh victory of the season and the first perfect game in program history.
Two runs was one more than the Tigers needed for the win. The first run went on the board when freshman Laura Rose (Riverside, Ohio/Stebbins) scored on a fielding error by the Yeowomen pitcher in the second inning, and freshman Kaitie Harrison (Springfield, Ohio/Kenton Ridge) drove in the second with an RBI single to score Rose in the sixth inning.
Rose finished the game 2-for-3 with two runs scored and a quartet of her teammates each registered one hit.
The start of the second game awoke a potent Tiger offense that used 13 hits and two Oberlin errors to score 12 runs, the first double-digit run total of the season. Junior Anna Kvartunas (Springfield, Va./Paul VI Catholic) earned her first win of the campaign thanks to the outburst.
The Tigers got things started quickly with a six-run first inning and three more in the second. One run in the fifth and two in the sixth finished the scoring, while Oberlin registered one in the second and three in the fourth.
Harrison had another fine outing with a 3-for-3 day at the plate with four RBIs to bring her day-long total to five. Rose followed up with 2-for-3 hitting to bring around three runs, and junior Tori Amicon (Galloway, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) pushed two across on with two hits in four at bats.
Junior Brooklyn Cox (Dayton, Ohio/Vandalia Butler) went 1-for-2 with an RBI before freshman Hannah Hupp (Springfield, Ohio/Northwestern) pinch hit for her and tallied her first collegiate RBI in one at bat. Junior Katelyn Davis (Bethesda, Ohio/Union Local) went 1-for-3 with an RBI and Ross added a 2-for-2 outing to the mix.
The Tigers play their fifth and sixth games of the weekend on Sunday, May 1, at nearby Urbana University starting at 2 p.m.
John Strawn '07