DCSB Earns Senior Day Sweep

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The Defiance College softball team needed heroics, but they got them with a walk-off grand slam in the opener to kick off a series sweep of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers in a pair of key HCAC games on Saturday afternoon at Sal Hench Field.

Game one was a pitcher's duel, with the teams combining for just seven hits in the first seven innings of action. 

The Yellow Jackets (18-8, 6-2 HCAC) used a great defensive play from junior hurler Rachel Wehrman (Fort Loramie/Minster) and wrapped up the inning with a groundout to senior shortstop Haley Patty (Bradford) to keep Rose-Hulman (7-21, 0-12 HCAC) off the scoreboard in the top of the eighth.

The bottom half saw a lead-off base hit from junior Jordan Osborne (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) move sophomore Arianna Richards (Covington), who was placed on second to begin the inning, to third. After a groundout, junior Michaela Bauer (Hicksville) walked to load the bases for sophomore Brooke Gostomsky (Dayton/Covington), who crushed a pitch over the right center field fence for a walk-off grand slam and a 4-0 extra-inning victory.

Wehrman tossed all eight innings in the circle for Defiance, allowing just four hits with three walks, while striking out four Engineers in improving to 4-3 on the season.

The Yellow Jackets had five hits by five different players, with Gostomsky having all four RBI. Bauer and sophomore Mariah Huff (Galloway/Mogadore) each added a double for DC.

Defiance scored early and often in the nightcap, as they cruised to an 11-3 victory in six innings over the Engineers. 

After Rose-Hulman took a quick 1-0 lead in the first, Defiance got on the board in the third. Patty led off the inning with a double down the left field line, and scored on a base knock from Osborne, paired with an RHIT error that ended with Osborne getting thrown out at second. Senior Kaity Kuhn (Celina) doubled to left center and Bauer moved her to third before an RBI fielder's choice from Gostomsky saw Defiance take a 2-1 lead.

The Yellow Jackets added two more runs with as Osborne doubled in both junior Jackie Hartman (Parma/Padua Franciscan) and Patty to give Defiance a 4-1 edge. 

Defiance continued to pour it on with three runs in the fifth. The first run of the frame was scored when freshman catcher Emma Perry (Bowling Green/Otsego) knocked in junior Ely King (Mechanicsburg/Northeastern), who pinch ran for Huff. The Yellow Jackets added RBI singles from senior Libby Leach (Cheshire/River Valley) and Patty to extend the lead to 7-1 after five.

After Rose-Hulman scored two in the top half of the inning, Defiance ran away with the game, as Gostomsky's RBI single made it an 8-3 game. Two batters later, senior pinch hitter Kandee Manson (Paulding) came through with a two-run single that extended the lead to 10-3. Hartman went on with the next pitch to end the game on a run-scoring single to left field, scoring freshman Erin Breece (Hamler/Patrick Henry) and giving Defiance the 11-3 run-rule victory.

Sophomore Sydney Zeuch (Mason/Mount Notre Dame) improved to 8-1 on the season with the complete-game victory. Zeuch allowed three runs on six hits in her six innings of work.

It was a big game for the offense, who scattered 18 hits in the nightcap. Hartman led the way, going a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, an RBI, and two runs scored. Osborne went 3-for-4 with a double and two knocked in, while Kuhn finished with a pair of hits and two runs scored. Osborne, Gostomsky, and Manson also added two RBI apiece.

Defiance will continue their stretch of five HCAC doubleheaders in eight days on Sunday, Apr. 22, as they travel to Indiana to take on the Franklin College Grizzlies.  First pitch for the opener is set for 1 p.m.