ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's softball team split a pair of games in the Ohio Athletic Conference softball tournament on Thursday afternoon, beating Muskingum 6-1 and losing to Baldwin Wallace 10-2 in six innings.
The Purple Raiders (33-9, 14-4 OAC) struck first against Muskingum, scoring two runs in the first inning with RBIs coming from freshmen
Faith Reicosky (North Canton / Hoover) and
Sydney Mercer (Salem / West Branch) to take a 2-0 lead. Mount Union would add to their lead in the bottom half of the fourth when freshman
Lydia Brunner (Minerva) hit an RBI single that scored sophomore
Sami Swartz (Columbus / Grandview Heights) to increase the lead to three runs. The Raiders added two more runs to their lead in the fifth inning, scoring off RBIs from freshmen
Kendyll Cahill (Grove Port / Grove Port Madison) and
Faith Kiko (North Canton / Hoover) to make the lead 6-0.
The Fighting Muskies (27-13, 11-7 OAC) would answer with a run in the top of the seventh inning when Cara Taylor was able to score after Carlee Lamacz got caught in a run down, but Muskingum wouldn't be able to get any closer as the Raiders would go on to win 6-1.
Cahill got the start in the circle for Mount Union and gave up just one run on five hits and struck out eight in the win.
The Yellow Jackets (28-14, 12-6 OAC) would strike first in the Raiders second game of the day, when Macaira Fox scored on a wild pitch and then Lexy Coggins hit an RBI triple to take a 2-0 lead.
The Raiders would answer with a run of their own in the second inning when Cahill scored on a wild pitch to cut the lead down to a run. Baldwin Wallace would come back to push the lead back to two runs in the bottom of the third inning when Bridie Bricker hit a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Steph Mraz.
Mount Union would cut the lead back down to a run in the top half of the fourth when senior
Taylor Gerback (Louisville / Marlington) hit an RBI double that scored Swartz. The Yellow Jackets would add two more runs in the fifth inning with RBIs coming from Bricker and Raegan Thompson to extend the lead to 5-2. Baldwin Wallace would score five more runs in the sixth inning with RBIs coming from Coggins, Bricker and Thompson and would go on to win 10-2 in six innings.
Cahill would get the start again in the circle for Mount Union and gave up 10 runs on 11 hits and struck out three in 5.2 innings. Freshman
Chloe Bird (Norton) would come in to pitch the final 0.1 innings and gave up zero runs and one hit.
The Raiders return to action tomorrow when they take on Muskingum in an elimination game at 11 a.m. in Alliance. The winner will advance to the OAC Championship game and take on Baldwin Wallace.
