Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Otterbein University softball team split two games with Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday, posting a 6-4 comeback-win before falling 7-2 in the night cap.

Otterbein, now 11-1 overall, suffered its first loss of the year after winning 11-straight games to begin the season, the most since the team tallied six-consecutive wins in 2012.

The Cardinals host their first home game of the season against Wittenberg this Friday. First pitch of game one of the doubleheader is slated for 3:45 p.m.

Game 1
The Cardinals fell behind 3-0 in game one at Kinder-Morgan Field, as the Lions plated one run in the first inning and a pair in the second to take an early lead.

Otterbein needed just two hits and a pair of MSJ errors in the game to score its six runs. Junior Molly Riggs got the Cards on the scoreboard in the top half of the third inning, driving in freshman Alyson Shaw.

Sophomore Maddie Flasco trimmed the MSJ lead to 3-2 on a sacrifice fly in the Cards' next at-bat, scoring Riggs from third base. Riggs then gave the Cards their first lead of the game in the fifth inning after working a leadoff walk, and stealing second base, before coming around to score on a wild pitch.

The Cardinals scored another run in the inning on a heads-up base running play by junior Chey Rowe, who advanced home following an attempted punch-out at second base by the Lions' catcher.

MSJ tacked on a run of its own in the bottom half of the fifth, before the Cards closed out the game with an insurance run in the seventh inning. Sophomore pitcher Rachael Owens, who came into the game with an 0.75 earned-run average, improved to 7-0 in the circle while striking out a pair of MSJ batters.

Game 2
Otterbein knotted the score at one apiece in the second inning thanks to two key hits up the middle, one by junior Tory Speakman and the other by Riggs. Speakman then moved into scoring position after a wild pitch by MSJ, to which Riggs used to her advantage by driving in the Cardinal baserunner.

The Cards struggled to find any momentum for the remaining five innings, recording just four hits and one run while surrendering a five-run third inning to the Lions' offense. Sophomore Bailey McElwain drove in the only other Cardinal run in the fifth inning, scoring Rowe after she walked as the second batter in the frame.

Freshman pitcher Gabby Johnson posted her first loss of the season, moving to 4-1 on the year. Classmate Meggin Kelley and sophomore Hannah Smith relieved Johnson after two innings of work, combining for four innings in the circle. MSJ captured the hitting margin, 11-7, as the Cards left seven runners stranded on base.

Flasco was solid at the plate in both games for the Cards, going a combined 3-for-6 with a pair of runs batted in and a walk. Riggs also made her mark in the twin bill, recording a 2-for-5 night with a walk, two runs batted in and three runs scored.