Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ADA, Ohio – The Otterbein softball team took over sole possession of first-place in the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) on Friday following a doubleheader sweep of Ohio Northern on the road.

The Cardinals, now 24-8 overall, boost their win total in league play to 11-3 and take a full one-game lead over ONU and Heidelberg, as the two teams are currently tied for second-place.

Otterbein will host John Carroll tomorrow, who is also in the hunt for an OAC Tournament spot, for Senior Day at 1 p.m. Pre-game ceremony honoring the seven seniors will begin 20 minutes prior to first pitch of game one.

Game One – Won, 7-2

Otterbein took charge from the get-go with a three-run advantage after one frame and a 6-0 lead after the second. A combined six hits over the course of the first two innings led to the sizeable lead for the Cards, as a two-out double and then a stolen base by senior Bailey McElwain in the first sparked the offensive output.

Senior Megan Garner posted the first run of the game for the Cards with an RBI-single to left field, which scored McElwain, before a single from classmate Rachael Owens and then a safe placement at first base for sophomore Courtney Hackney on an ONU error upped the lead.

Freshman Kristen Zink ignited the Cards again to leadoff the second inning with an infield single, before senior Savannah Sarkine dug out a bunt single to put two runners aboard with no outs. Again it was McElwain and Garner who delivered as the team added two more runs to its total.

ONU (24-6, 10-4 OAC) got one run in each of the first halves of innings four and five, but it was Otterbein that added an insurance run in the sixth on a pair of hits, as Zink came around to score again on a single off the bat of senior Maddie Flasco.

Junior pitcher Gabby Johnson improved her record to 11-2 in the circle in a complete-game effort, which included five strikeouts and just one earned run out of the two the Polar Bears tallied.

Game Two – Won, 12-1 (5inn.)

The Cards carried their momentum from game one into game number two, as McElwain blasted a two-out solo home run to right field, putting her tied for tops in the conference in that category (7).

Another three-run inning to start the second frame made the score 4-0 in favor of Otterbein, before Owens, who started game two in the circle, added another solo home run to tack on to the margin.

It was the fourth inning when the Cards blew the game wide open, recording seven runs on five hits and a pair of errors in the field by the Polar Bears. Freshman Katrina Wierzbicki highlighted the inning with a grand slam to left field, the first of her collegiate career.

Owens was dominant pitching with an enormous lead throughout the contest en route to her ninth win, allowing just five hits and the one run to go with a pair of strikeouts. 

McElwain, who totaled four hits between the two games, is now just four hits shy of tying Molly Riggs and Laura Basford for the program's all-time hits lead.