WILMINGTON, Ohio— Mount Union's softball team swept Wilmington in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader on Friday afternoon, taking game one 4-2 in eight innings and winning game two 6-3 in eleven innings.
The Purple Raiders (18-10, 7-3 OAC) broke the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning when senior Tori Sickafoose (Magnolia / Sandy Valley) hit an RBI single down the left field line to bring in junior Faith Reicosky (North Canton / Hoover) and take a 1-0 lead. Mount Union would then add to their lead in the fifth inning when freshman Allison Jones (Berlin Center / Western Reserve) hit an inside-the-park home run to record her first career home run and extend the lead to two runs.
The Quakers (11-16, 4-10 OAC) would answer with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the same inning when Jocelyn Franz hit a two-RBI double down the left field line to tie the game at two runs apiece.
The Raiders and Quakers would head to extra innings tied at two, when junior Sydney Mercer (Salem / West Branch) hit a two-RBI single to score Sickafoose and sophomore Kyndall Hahn (Garrettsville / James Garfield) and take a 4-2 lead.
Wilmington wouldn't have an answer in the bottom half of the eighth as the Raiders would go on to take game one 4-2 in eight innings.
Junior Kendyll Cahill (Groveport / Groveport Madison) got the start in the circle for Mount Union in game one and threw a complete game, giving up just two runs, zero earned, on five hits, and struck out five.
The Raiders would strike first again in game two, scoring in the third inning when Mercer scored on an error by the second baseman to take a 1-0 lead. Mount Union would add to that lead in the following inning when sophomore Karlie Davis (St. Leon, Ind. / East Central) scored on a throwing error by the Quaker first baseman, stretching the lead to two runs.
Wilmington would answer with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the same inning, scoring off RBIs from Samantha Schwab and Alasandra Spears to tie the game at two runs apiece. Mount Union would reclaim the lead in the top of the fifth when Reicosky hit an RBI single that scored Mercer to grab a 3-2 lead.
Then, in the bottom half of the seventh inning, the Quakers would score off an RBI from Addysen Stevens to tie the game at three runs apiece and send it to extra innings.
The Raiders would finally break the tie in the eleventh inning when Mercer hit an RBI triple to bring home Jones, and then senior Adri George (Eastlake / North) hit an RBI single to bring in Mercer, and Reicosky scored after an error by the catcher to reclaim the lead at 6-3. The Quakers wouldn't have an answer in the bottom half of the inning, and the Raiders would go on to take game two 6-3 in eleven innings.
Freshman Emma Reemsnyder (Canton / GlenOak) got the start in the circle for Mount Union in game two and gave up two runs on three hits and struck out one in 3.1 innings of work. Junior Chloe Bird (Norton) would come in to throw 3.2 innings in relief and gave up just a single run on seven hits and struck out one. Cahill would come in to pitch the final four innings in relief and gave up zero runs on five hits and struck out two.
The Raiders return home next when they host John Carroll on Wednesday, April 23, in an OAC doubleheader, with game one beginning at 3 p.m. and game two following at 5 p.m. in Alliance.
