Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

TIFFIN, Ohio – The Otterbein softball team fell twice at Heidelberg in an Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) doubleheader Saturday afternoon, falling in extra innings twice by a score of 4-3.

The Cardinals (16-8 overall) adjust their record in the league standings to 5-3 with a trio of twinbill's on tap for the coming week, beginning with a scheduled trip to Mount St. Joseph on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. Otterbein will then host Wilmington on Wednesday followed by rival Capital next Saturday.

Game One

Otterbein's longest-lasting game to date ended in heart-break fashion after it rallied from down 2-0 after five innings of play to take its first lead of the day.

Junior Gabby Johnson, who did not surrender a hit until the fourth inning, posted yet another exceptional outing in the circle striking out a new career-high 16 batters in nine-and-two-thirds innings of work.

Johnson sent down seven Berg batters via the strikeout over the first three frames, before the opposition planted three base runners on one hit, a walk and an error which pushed the first run across the plate.

Heidelberg added another run in the fifth to take a 2-0 lead, prior to the Cardinals storming back with a three-run sixth, spearheaded by senior Megan Garner drawing a lead-off walk.

Sophomore Courtney Hackney then drove Garner in before senior Savannah Sarkine hit a two-run single to give the team a 3-2 advantage.

The Berg knotted the score following a pair of two-out doubles the next half inning, and the game would remain tied heading into the Cards' first extra-inning game of the year. Only two hits would be had between the two teams over the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, as Johnson continued her strong performance with five strikeouts over that span.

Heidelberg was down to its final out in the 10th with a runner on first when Haylee Patel stepped to the plate and hit a walk-off RBI-triple to score Abbey McKee from first base.

Game Two

A game which lasted just under two hours saw the Cardinals take an early 1-0 advantage after McElwain blasted her fourth home run of the season, and third in OAC play.

Owens, the game-two starter for the Cards, cruised through the first four frames allowing just a pair of hits while striking out two batters in the process.

McElwain upped the team's lead to 2-0 in the top of the fifth as she connected on a triple to right center field, before coming around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of freshman Katrina Wierzbicki.

Heidelberg got one run back in the last half of the inning and then tied the game the next inning with a two-out double from McKee, who scored the game-winning run in game one.

McElwain again put the Cards in front with an RBI-single, which scored Owens, in the top of the seventh before the Berg sent the game into extra innings again on a two-out single that scored Patel.

The Berg completed the sweep in the bottom of the eighth, posting a lead-off double before a sacrifice fly scored the game-winner two batters later.