CLERMONT, Fla. – It was another stretch of rotating outcomes for the Otterbein softball team on Tuesday afternoon at The Spring Games, this time splitting matchups with Allegheny (L 7-0) and Gordon (W 6-5) at Legends Way Ballfields.
The Cardinals now stand 3-3 across the midway point of their 10-game trip, where they will enjoy Wednesday off before retaking the diamond on Thursday for another pair of tests.
ALLEGHENY RECAP:
The Gators handed Otterbein a disappointing shutout to begin the day, scoring six times in the first two innings and never letting the Cards inch any closer. Otterbein's best push came in the last frame with two runners on, but the damage had already been done.
Allegheny pitcher Samantha Dzierba went the distance for a complete-game shutout, fanning seven Cardinals in the process.
GORDON RECAP:
Otterbein shrugged that off and got back to work in the finale, scoring at least once in each of the initial four innings against the Fighting Scots from Massachusetts.
Emma Calkins had an RBI-double in the opening frame along with a sac fly from
Maggie McVicker, but Gordon answered with a pair of its own in the bottom half.
Both teams traded momentum swings (literally) in the middle innings and 10 doubles were smacked around the yard altogether.
Isa Lewis and
Ella Pfaffl joined the fun midway through to bring runs home, as the game settled into a 4-4 deadlock..
Otterbein pulled ahead for good in the fourth after three-consecutive runners got on base –
Jen Sindledecker and Kennedi Endlsey hitting safely before a fielder's choice sequence allowed Calkins to load the bases.
Megan Payne put the ball in play for an RBI groundout, and then drove in another in the sixth for a two-run cushion at 6-4.
The Scots pulled within a run during the bottom portion of the sixth on yet another double, but
Riley Hamm entered to earn her second save in as many days. The tying run got to second with two outs in the last frame, but a 3-4 putout would conclude the action.
Isa Lewis was 3 for 4 offensively from the two hole while Sindledecker and
Rachel Miller also enjoyed multi-hit performances. McVicker grinded her to 5.2 innings in the circle for a pitching W.
LOOKING AHEAD:
Otterbein will take on Elizabethtown and Johnson & Wales come Thursday afternoon and leading under the lights, with game times currently set at 4 and 6:15 p.m.
