Defiance Splits Twinbill at Kalamazoo

KALAMAZOO, MICH. -- The Defiance College softball team dropped the opener, 7-6, but turned around and knocked off the Kalamazoo College Hornets, 6-5, in the second game of a doubleheader in non-conference action on Saturday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets started the day on the right foot, as freshman catcher Emma Perry (Bowling Green/Otsego) smoked a grand slam over the left field fence to give Defiance a 4-0 lead right off the bat. The Hornets responded, however, with five first-inning runs of their own to give Kalamazoo a 5-4 lead after just one inning of action. 

The Hornets added two more runs in the second inning to put them up, 7-4, before junior Rachel Wehrman (Fort Loramie/Minster) threw a shutout the rest of the way for the Yellow Jackets. 

Defiance added a pair of runs the rest of the way, both being Michaela Bauer (Hicksville) crossing the plate off the bat of Arianna Richards (Covington), but those runs weren't enough as Defiance dropped the opener, 7-6.

The DC offense was led by Bauer, who went 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles to go along with her pair of runs scored. Perry also added four RBI with her first inning grand slam, while Richards went 1-for-3 with her pair of RBI. 

Senior Sarah Kaya (Lorain/Clearview) struggled in the circle, allowing five unearned runs on three hits while walking four hitters, dropping herself to 2-3 on the campaign. Wehrman threw 5.1 innings of relief, allowing just two runs (one earned) on two hits with four strikeouts.

Defiance started game two with a run in the opening frame, as a double off the bat of Mariah Huff (Galloway/Mogadore) scored sophomore Brooke Gostomsky (Dayton/Covington) to give DC the early lead.

After the Hornets scored a run in the first and third innings to take a 2-1 lead, Defiance grabbed the lead back in the fourth. Haley Patty (Bradford) tied the game with a single that, with the help of an error, scored Bauer to make it a 2-2 game. The next hitter, Kaity Kuhn (Celina) singled again, this time scoring Richards and putting Defiance in front, 3-2. 

Kalamazoo added three runs in the bottom of the fourth to put them in front, 5-3, but Defiance came back with two runs in the fifth when Bauer tripled to score Perry and Jackie Hartman (Parma/Padua Franciscan) to knot the game at 5-5. 

With the game tied at 5-5 entering the seventh, a one-out double from Bauer kickstarted a rally for the Yellow Jackets. Two batters later, Jordan Osborne (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) singled to score Bauer and lead Defiance to a win and a spilt of the series.

Bauer led the offense in the nightcap, batting a perfect 4-for-4, as she was just a home run away from hitting for the cycle. The junior had a triple, a double, and two singles, while scoring three runs. Patty also added a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles in the nightcap.

Sophomore Sydney Zeuch (Mason/Mount Notre Dame) started in the circle and allowed five runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings. Junior Jamie Kimbler (Huber Heights/Wayne) threw the final 3.1 innings in relief and allowed just one hit to improve to 2-0 on the season.

Defiance is scheduled to open up the home portion of the schedule at Sal Hench Field for doubleheader against Heidelberg University. The first game is set for a 3:30 p.m. first pitch.