Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein University softball team picked up a crucial doubleheader split Saturday afternoon at home, rebounding from a game-one defeat to earn a 6-3 win against John Carroll in the second contest.

The Cardinals, now sitting at 11-15 on the season and 7-5 within the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC), will continue to try and keep pace down the stretch as only the top-four teams will qualify for the league's postseason tournament. Click here to view the OAC standings.

Otterbein trailed 10-1 midway through the sixth inning of game one, giving up eight runs in the top half of the frame to face an uphill climb. The Cards nearly fought all the way back, rallying for seven runs in the bottom of the inning to get back within one run. Four home runs were hit in the inning, three coming from JCU and another off the bat of Cardinal first baseman Megan Garner.

The Blue Streaks (15-9, 6-4 OAC) created some breathing room in their next at-bat with another long ball, this time a three-run homer, to widen the margin back to five runs and ultimately hang on for a 13-8 victory. Molly Riggs, Maddie Flasco and Kennedy Daly all tallied two hits in the opener for the Cardinals.

John Carroll clung to a 3-1 lead entering the fourth inning of game two, but the Cardinals used a single from Kate Lewis for one run in the frame and followed with an RBI-single from Garner in the next inning to draw even.

The score remained the same until the bottom of the sixth when Otterbein used RBI from Tayler Sbrocco and Bailey McElwain to seize a 6-3 advantage. Lewis quickly retired the first three JCU batters in the seventh to finish the game, picking up her second win of the year after allowing just two hits and no runs over the final four innings.

Otterbein, now winners in 8 of its last 12 outings, is scheduled to be back in action Tuesday with a road doubleheader at Wilmington College. Start time will be 3 p.m.