WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein softball team split with Baldwin Wallace Saturday afternoon, as the Cardinals will be the fourth seed in the upcoming Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament. The Cardinals honored their three seniors, Alyson Shaw, Anna Edwards and Gabby Johnson before the doubleheader.

OAC TOURAMENT OUTLOOK:

• Muskingum swept Ohio Northern on Saturday to claim the first overall seed with a conference mark of 15-3, Muskingum is 4-2 against the other three qualifiers.
• Ohio Northern will be the No. 2 after Muskingum swept the Polar Bears. ONU owns a 14-4 OAC record and 3-3 mark against the other three teams.
• Baldwin Wallace earned the third seed with a 13-5 conference record, as the Yellow Jackets are 2-4 against the tournament opponents.
• Otterbein will be the No. 4 seed after finishing the regular season with a 12-6 league record. The Cardinals went 3-3 and split each series against the other opponents.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
GAME ONE: OTTERBEIN – 2, BALDWIN WALLACE – 0

• Johnson dominated inside the circle, as the senior went seven shutout innings and only allowed four hits.
• The first Cardinal run came in the sixth inning, as Alyson McAdams had a perfect bunt and Kayla Queer made a sprint for home plate and slid under the tag to give Otterbein a 1-0 edge.
• Savannah McCoppin singled on the next at bat to score Edwards and give Johnson an extra run of insurance.

GAME TWO: BALDWIN WALLACE – 7, OTTERBEIN – 4

• Baldwin Wallace scored in the top half of the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. Otterbein responded with two outs, as Courtney Hackney singled through the left side to score Shaw, as Queer hit a three-run homer to left field to give Otterbein a 4-1 edge.
• The Yellow Jackets started to chip at the Cardinal lead, as BW scored one run in the fourth inning. Baldwin Wallace then added two in the fifth and three in the sixth to take the lead.
• Otterbein was unable to put together a final attempt in the seventh inning, as BW brought in Nikki Camarti who leads the conference with a 1.20 era.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• The Cardinals were able to best Camarti in game one, as the freshman is currently 19-4 this season.
• Johnson threw her second complete shutout this year, as the first came back at the beginning of April against Marietta.
• Shaw currently has a 15 game hitting streak, as the senior has eight multi-hit games during the stretch.
• The Cardinals have now qualified for the OAC Tournament four-straight years and have a 5-4 record over the past three outings, with 2017 being the year Otterbein won the tournament and made the NCAA Tournament.

UP NEXT:
The conference tournament will take place in New Concord, Ohio with Muskingum as the host. Otterbein will battle with the Muskies, as the times are still to be determined. Ohio Northern will take on Baldwin Wallace in the first round, as the tournament is a double elimination format.