LEESBURG, Fla. — The Wittenberg softball team continued its 10-game spring break trip Monday with a 4-1 win over Westminster after falling 5-0 to Mount Union to begin the day.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (4-4 overall), Mount Union (4-0 overall), Westminster (0-3 overall)
• Venue: Sleepy Hollow Sports Complex - Leesburg, Fla.

Stat Leaders - vs. Mount Union

• Senior Julia Burch (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome), sophomores Meghan McCans (Arcanum, Ohio/Arcanum) and Ashlynn Stamper (Yellow Springs, Ohio/Beavercreek) and freshman Rebekah Giel (Amelia, Ohio/West Clermont) had one hit each for Wittenberg.
• Sophomore Julia Hall (Powell, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) got the pitching start for the Tigers, allowing four runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out two.
• Junior Samantha Zungri (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) pitched the final two innings for Wittenberg, allowing one run on two hits and one walk.
• Sydney Mercer led the Mount Union offense with three hits, including a double and a triple, and three RBIs.
• Kendyll Cahill pitched all seven innings for the Purple Raiders, allowing just four hits while tallying 11 strikeouts.

Game 1 - Mount Union 5, Wittenberg 0

• The Purple Raiders opened the scoring in the top of the first inning with a sacrifice groundout to third that brought Mercer home following her leadoff triple.
• Wittenberg led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles from Burch and McCans but stranded both runners.
• An RBI double from Mercer put Mount Union up 2-0 in the second inning.
• The Raiders capped the scoring with an RBI double in the third and 2-RBI single in the sixth.
• Mount Union out-hit Wittenberg by a 10-4 margin and committed one error to the Tigers' none.

Stat Leaders - vs. Westminster

• Senior Hanna Ecker (Heath, Ohio/Heath) led the Wittenberg offense with one hit, one walk, one run scored and one stolen base.
• Burch, McCans, Hall and sophomores Audrey Robinson (Sunbury, Ohio/Highland) and Kayla Drake (Wilmington, Ohio/Clinton Massie) also had one hit each.
• Senior Kira van Ravensberg (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) earned her first win of the season, putting her record at 1-2. She allowed one run on two hits and three walks while striking out one over five innings.
• Sophomore Lilly James (Troy, Ohio/Troy) pitched the final two innings, giving up just three hits and recording one strikeout.
• Five players had one hit each for Westminster.

Game 2 - Wittenberg 4, Westminster 1

• The game was scoreless through three innings.
• The Tigers plated three runs in the top of the fourth after loading the bases on back-to-back singles from McCans and Ecker followed by Zungri getting hit by a pitch with no outs. McCans scored when Drake reached base on a Westminster error, and a triple steal brought Ecker home for a 2-0 lead. Zungri then scored on an RBI groundout from Giel.
• Wittenberg increased its lead to 4-0 on an RBI sac fly from junior Harper Crews (Ypsilanti, Mich./Lincoln) in the top of the sixth.
• Westminster scored its lone run of the game via an RBI single in the top of the sixth.
• James secured the Tigers' win with a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh on two groundouts and a flyout.
• Wittenberg out-hit Westminster by a 6-5 margin, and both teams committed two errors.

Quote - Head coach Ashley Goodwin

• "We dropped our first game today against a very good Mount Union team. Their starting pitcher went the distance, and we were unable to put anything together offensively. Coming back in the second game and getting a nice team win prior to a day off tomorrow was a great way to wrap up the day. Our pitching and defense has been solid early in the season. I'm proud of our progress as a team."

Records & Milestones

• Wittenberg is now 2-11 all-time against Mount Union and 3-0 all-time against Westminster.
• Burch has 117 hits and 24 steals in her career. She is 13 hits and one steal shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• Ecker needs eight hits to reach 100 for her career. She also has 53 RBIs in her career, which is 25 shy of joining the program's all-time top 10 in that category.
• In the circle, van Ravensberg has 21 career wins, which ranks 10th in program history. She also has 92 career strikeouts, which is 14 shy of breaking into the program's all-time top 10 in that category.

Up Next

• The Tigers return to action on Wednesday with matchups against Wheaton at 10 a.m. and Buena Vista at 12:30 p.m. in The Spring Games.

Above: The Wittenberg softball coaching staff gathers on the field prior to Monday's game against Mount Union. | Photo by Diana Quevedo