Sports
Ohio Softball Splits Friday Doubleheader Wth Eastern Michigan
By: Kaleb Carter
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Ohio Softball entered the weekend tied for seventh in the MAC with Akron and Toledo, with the conference tournament rapidly approaching.
In the first game of a Friday doubleheader with the Eastern Michigan Eagles, the Bobcats pulled out the win in an eight-inning thriller, as Lauren Gellerman drove in the winning run to give the Bobcats a 6-5 victory. Ohio dropped the second game of the day, 6-1.
Game One
The Eagles and Bobcats fought and clawed throughout the first five innings, with the Eagles scoring three runs while Ohio failed to push across a run.
Ohio had several chances early on, leaving the bases loaded in the first inning and stranding runners in scoring position in the second, third and fifth innings.
EMU would score on a Lauren Wells RBI single in the second, but would be shut down by a combination of Lauren McClary and Savannah Jo Dorsey until the sixth inning. In the sixth frame, Jenn Lucas hit a two-run home run, giving the Eagles a 3-0 advantage.
Ohio entered the bottom of the sixth inning scoreless, having threatened to score at multiple points on the day. In the inning, the Bobcats would finally reach Eastern Michigan starter Jenna Ignowski and her replacement Lindsay Rich.
The Bobcats loaded the bases before Kaylin Clarke came through with a bases-clearing, two-out triple.
Lauren Gellerman would soon follow with a base hit to score Clarke, giving Ohio its first lead of the day at 4-3.
However, Eastern Michigan would respond on an Amanda Herron two-run blast in the seventh, giving the Eagles another lead at 5-4.
Not to be denied, the Bobcats responded on their final out in the bottom of the seventh with Raven King on third base. Amanda Dalton legged out an infield single, scoring King and knotting things up once more.
After Dorsey retired the Eagles in the eighth, Tessa Bailey led off the bottom half of the inning with a double. After she advanced to third, teammate Lauren Gellerman smacked a one-out single into center, scoring Bailey and propelling Ohio to a 6-5 victory. The game-winning single put an exclamation point on Gellerman’s 3-4, two-RBI game
Dorsey picked up the win, improving to 13-9 on the season. The Eagles’ Lindsay Rich would incur the loss, falling to 5-6.
Game Two
In the second match-up of the day, Eastern Michigan would make easy work of the Bobcats on its way to a 6-1 win.
The Eagles struck first as Lucas drove a three-run home run over the fence to give the road team a 3-0 lead.
Lauren McClary, Kaylin Clarke and Savanah Jo Dorsey combined to surrender six runs on eight hits, with McClary taking the loss in only 1.1 innings.
On the other side, Lauren Wells would earn her second victory of the season with a complete-game, nine-strikeout, one-run performance.
Ohio scored its only run in the bottom of the sixth when Gellerman sent her 22nd blast of the season to center field. The senior’s 3-3 effort in game two, coupled with her 3-4 performance at the plate in the first game, increases her average to .405 on the season.
The loss drops the Bobcats to 25-26 overall and 8-12 in the MAC, with two games remaining before MAC tournament play.
Ohio will host Central Michigan (28-17, 14-6 MAC) for a two-game series beginning Saturday to close out the regular season.