OBERLIN — The Wittenberg softball team swept a North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader at Oberlin on Saturday to close out its regular-season schedule. The Tigers opened the day with a 3-0 victory and completed the sweep with a 4-1 win in Game 2. That second victory proved vital, as it clinched the fourth and final berth in the NCAC Tournament for the Tigers. Wittenberg and Wooster tied for fourth place in the conference standings but the Tigers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker courtesy of their doubleheader sweep of the Scots on April 20.

The Basics

• Records: Wittenberg (21-19 overall, 7-7 NCAC), Oberlin (6-26 overall, 2-12 NCAC)
• Venue: Culhane Field - Oberlin, Ohio

Stat Leaders - Game 1

• Senior Kira van Ravensberg (Highlands Ranch, Colo./Mountain Vista) pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing three hits and no walks while tallying one strikeout for the Tigers. She is now 7-8 on the season.
• Sophomore Ashlynn Stamper (Yellow Springs, Ohio/Beavercreek) led the Wittenberg offense, going 2-for-3 with two doubles, two RBIs and one run scored.
• Freshman Rebekah Giel (Amelia, Ohio/West Clermont) was 1-for-2 with a double and RBI.
• Senior Hanna Ecker (Heath, Ohio/Heath), junior Harper Crews (Ypsilanti, Mich./Lincoln), graduate student Samantha Casteel (Loveland, Ohio/Little Miami) and freshman Kyleigh Bartlett (Beavercreek, Ohio/Beavercreek) tallied one hit each. Ecker and senior Julia Burch (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) had one stolen base each.

Game 1 - Wittenberg 3, Oberlin 0

• Wittenberg plated a pair of runs in the top of the first inning after Burch and Ecker reached base on a walk and single, respectively, with one out. They advanced to second and third on a two-out double steal and were driven home on a double from Stamper.
• The Tigers increased their lead to 3-0 on an RBI double from Giel in the top of the third inning after Stamper hit a two-out double.
• Oberlin had just one base-runner over the final four innings, as Haley Carlson reached on an error with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
• Wittenberg out-hit Oberlin by a 7-3 margin, and each team committed two errors.

Stat Leaders - Game 2

• Sophomore Meghan McCans (Arcanum, Ohio/Arcanum) led the Wittenberg offense, going 3-for-4 with one RBI, two runs and one steal.
• Junior Samantha Zungri (Canal Winchester, Ohio/Canal Winchester) was 2-for-3 with one run and one steal. She also pitched a scoreless first three innings while ceding four hits and one walk while tallying one strikeout.
• Burch tallied a double with one RBI, one run and one steal.
• Crews and freshman Syd Little (Miamisburg, Ohio/Miamisburg) had one hit each.
• Sophomore Julia Hall (Powell, Ohio/Bishop Watterson) pitched three relief innings and recorded two strikeouts. She was credited with the win to improve to 6-8 on the season.
• Sophomore Lilly James (Troy, Ohio/Troy) pitched the final inning and tallied two strikeouts en route to earning her ninth save of the season.

Game 2 - Wittenberg 4, Oberlin 1

• Wittenberg scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning for an early 2-0 lead.
• Oberlin scored its lone run of the game on an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth.
• The Tigers added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh via an RBI single from McCans and RBI double from Burch.
• James relieved Hall in the bottom of the seventh and gave up a two-out single before closing out the victory with a strikeout.
• Wittenberg out-hit Oberlin by an 8-7 margin and committed no errors to Oberlin's two.

Quote - Senior Kira van Ravensberg

• "Going into today, I just knew that all I had to do was pitch to my strengths and we would be able to secure a win to bring us closer to the conference tournament. I am super proud of my team because I could not have gotten a shutout today without them playing good defense behind me. I am very excited to be going to my first conference tournament and proud to be a part of Team 41!"

Records & Milestones

• Wittenberg is now 42-4 all-time against Oberlin.
• Wittenberg is making its 14th all-time appearance in the NCAC Tournament and first since 2018.
• Burch has 159 hits and 45 steals in her career. She ranks fifth all-time at Wittenberg in hits and is fifth all-time in steals.
• Ecker has 124 hits and 71 RBIs in her career. She is 19 hits and seven RBIs shy of joining the program's all-time top 10 in those categories.
• McCans has a school-record 36 steals this season and is sixth all-time with 44 career steals. The prior school record for single-season steals was 33 set by Loren Combs in 2014.
• In the circle, van Ravensberg has 28 career wins, which ranks ninth in program history. She also has 123 career strikeouts, which ranks 10th all-time at Wittenberg.
• James has 12 career saves, which is a program record.
• The Tigers have tallied a program single-season record 128 stolen bases this year. The prior record was 100 set in 2013.
• Wittenberg has increased its win total by 11 this year after finishing 10-25 in 2023.

Up Next

• As the No. 4 seed in the NCAC Tournament, the Tigers return to action on Thursday against top-seeded and host DePauw at 12:30 p.m. For more information about the tournament, click here.