DELAWARE, Ohio – The Otterbein softball team got itself back into the win column on Wednesday afternoon just up the road, and then was forced to settle with a sweep in non-conference action at Ohio Wesleyan.

The Cardinals held on to win the opener 8-7 after a charge from the Bishops, and the couldn't quite generate a rally in the second contest as OWU got even. Both teams also split last year in Delaware, with Otterbein still holding a 4-2 series lead after the pandemic.

GAME ONE BREAKDOWN:

• OWU generated an early run but Otterbein took full control with a big top of the second, plating four runs and never trailing again…
   
• Maggie McVicker started things with a one-out double, Jen Sindledecker and Chloe Clark had singles in the frame, and Otterbein also benefited on a dropped fly that crossed a pair of unearned runs.
   
• The Cards added two more in the next frame thanks to McVicker's bat again, this time ripping a single that brought around Emma Calkins after her lead-off walk. Rachel Miller nearly scored on the play but was thrown out at the plate. Have no fear, as Ella Pfaffl moved the ball shortly thereafter for an RBI groundout.
   
• Ohio Wesleyan played three in the fifth to keep the game very interesting, only trailing 6-5 until the Cards added a pair of timely insurance runs in the fifth. Hits from Miller and McVicker furthered a sequence that also saw Sindledecker loft a sac fly.
   
• Otterbein had to work until the very end as Riley Hamm took over for Riley King in the circle during a hectic fourth inning. She kept the Bishops to solo runs in the fifth and sixth, including a pair of swinging K's to end the latter.
   
• OWU then advanced the potential tying run all the way to third in the bottom of the seventh, but a comebacker to Hamm would help the Cards narrowly escape. McVicker and Miller combined to hit 5 for 8 in the game.
   

GAME TWO BREAKDOWN:

• Otterbein grabbed a quick 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to an RBI groundout from Calkins, but the home side built a lead across the middle innings…
   
• Ohio Wesleyan got on the board in the third, posted two more in the fourth to jump ahead, and then held a 5-2 lead entering the final inning despite an RBI-double from McVicker in the sixth.
   
• The Cards did not go quietly and, just like OWU did in the opener, fought until the very last pitch…
   
• An infield single from Clark, followed by she and Kennedi Endsley moving up on a wild pitch, kept things in doubt into the homestretch. Miller then walked and Calkins got enough for a sac fly, bringing the tying run to the plate. But a popup to shortstop would end the push and a split would be the final outcome.
   
• Clark hit  2 for 3 in the game from near the top of the lineup while Miller was on base three times, by virtue of patiently drawing two walks.

WEEKEND FINALE:

The Cardinals will return home and take on Wilmington in the regular-season finale on campus, with games scheduled for Saturday at 1 and 4 p.m. It will also mark Senior Day for Caroline Heller and Megan Payne.