Sports
Ohio Softball Doubleheader Sweep
By: Andrew Hohman
Posted on:
Lauren McClary earned her first two wins in the circle of the season in one day.
McClary (2-10) gave up six hits over nine innings of pitching as the Bobcats (9-18, 2-0) achieved two comeback victories in a doubleheader at Western Michigan with scores of 9-8 and 3-2.
It was a long performance for McClary, who threw 118 pitches over the two games, but she kept the Broncos from finding the sweet spot and allowed the Bobcats to take the games.
Both games, McClary entered the circle when Ohio wasn’t in the lead. The starting Bobcat pitchers both let up runs early and were relieved in the second inning.
That doesn’t mean it was an off day for Kaylin Clarke who gave up seven runs over the first 1 and 2/3 innings of game one.
Clarke was effective in her offensive role. In the fifth inning, she singled up the middle to drive in Amanda Dalton. She picked up another RBI in the sixth on a sac-fly. She finished the day 5 for 7 at the plate with three RBIs.
Ohio trailed 7-0 through three innings of game one, but the Bobcat bats struck gold in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game. Adrienne Gebele started the ‘Cats’ comeback with a three-run homer to put the Bobcats on the board. Two errors in the fifth let Ohio’s runners score and get the Green and White back in the game.
McClary came in for the final three innings of the game to lock things down. She left three Western Michigan runners stranded; the final Bronco batter struck out looking.
McClary had a bigger challenge in the second game after Sydney Compston and Leanna Bachman pitched through the first two innings.
The only other time this season that McClary pitched more than 4 and 1/3 innings, she gave up six runs. She pitched six innings in a tight game two and gave up just three hits.
Ohio was down 2-1 until the seventh inning when Dakota Pyles scored on a Timmie Rappe groundout. McClary held the Broncos and put the game into extra innings.
The Bobcats made sure that McClary didn’t have to pitch much longer. Raven King drove in Amanda Dalton to put the Bobcats up, and McClary once again held on to give Ohio its fourth-straight victory.