Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BEXLEY, Ohio - The Otterbein softball team suffered saw its five-game win streak snapped with a 6-2 loss to Capital in game one on Saturday, before rebounding nicely with a 7-1 victory in game two at Clowson Field. 

Otterbein (22-5 overall) posts its first loss in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) play to move to 7-1, with six more doubleheaders on tap for the remainder of the regular-season schedule. The Cardinals host a two-game homestand beginning Tuesday against Marietta with a game one start time of 3 p.m. at Rike Field.

Game One

Capital led off the game with a solo home run to right field and never looked back, plating three additional runs on six hits the following inning after stringing togtether five singles, one double and a total of seven base runners to take a 4-0 lead after two frames.

The Cardinals managed to get one run back in the top half of the third inning, as freshman Kasey Morris and senior Tory Speakman posted back-to-back base hits to start the inning before senior Chey Rowe, who pinch ran for Morris, came around to score on an error by the Capital defense.

Capital got the run back and added another in the bottom half of the inning after the leadoff reached on a double to center field before crossing home plate on a two-run homer to left field.

Otterbein pushed across its only other run of the game the next half inning as junior Bailey McElwain singled through the left side of the Crusader infield, before reaching home on a sacrifice fly by classmate Rachael Owens.

Morris was credited with the loss, just the first in her last three starts, allowing four runs on seven hits, while Owens pitched four innings in relief allowing two runs on six hits while striking out two.

Game Two

The Cardinal offense woke up right from the start in game two as four of its first six hitters reached base, ignited by a leadoff single up the middle and stolen base by sophomore Alyson Shaw. McElwain, classmate Megan Garner and senior Molly Riggs also tallied base hits, as Otterbein took a 2-0 lead after the first frame.

Otterbein posted an even bigger inning offensively in the second, plating four runs on as many hits, jump started by a leadoff double to right center off the bat of Speakman. Junior Maddie Flasco hit a two-run double to right field three batters later, scoring pinch runner Kayla Queer and Shaw to give the Cards a 4-0 lead.

McElwain then launched her team-leading fifth home run of the season in the next at bat, this one a two-run shot to center field which also plated Flasco. Cardinal starting pitcher Gabby Johnson held Capital scoreless through three innings, allowing just three hits while fanning three batters over that span.

Capital notched its first and only run of the game in the fourth inning during a frame in which it posted two base hits to help push across a run. The Cardinals did not flinch though as they responded with an insurance run in the bottom half of the fifth inning as Riggs drove in Rowe on a single.

The Cards finished the game with an 11-7 advantage in hits, as Johnson recorded her fourth-straight complete game to improve to 9-0 on the year after allowing just one run on seven hits with four strikeouts. Garner, McElwain, Riggs and Speakman each had two hits in the contest.