Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein Cardinals dropped a pair of home games to begin Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play Saturday afternoon, falling by scores of 9-3 and 8-3 to Mount Union in doubleheader softball action.

The Cardinals, dropping to 3-11 overall on the season, will be back in action this coming Tuesday with a non-conference twinbill against Mount St. Joseph. Start time from Rike Field has been moved up from 3:30 to 3 p.m.

Mount Union (9-5) took an early 1-0 lead in game one, but the Cardinals answered right back on a solo home run from Bailey McElwain to centerfield. The game was later locked at 2-2 entering the sixth inning, but the Purple Raiders exploded for six runs in the frame to gain some breathing room.

Otterbein responded with a home run, off the bat of Megan Garner, in the bottom of the sixth, but the damage had been done as Mount prevailed with the game-one victory.

The Cardinals held a 3-0 lead in game two thanks to a three-run bomb from Rachael Owen in the fourth. Otterbein starting pitcher Lizzy Snodgrass was cruising in the circle, managing to keep the Raiders off the scoreboard through the first five innings.

Mount Union rallied again in the sixth, ripping a two-run homer to begin the inning en route to posting eight runs in all. Otterbein would never recover in suffering the sweep.

The Cards will return to conference play next Saturday, March 28, with a pair of road games at cross-town Capital University.