Yellow Jackets Drop Doubleheader Against Denison

DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Yellow Jackets' softball team fell to 14-12 on the season Tuesday night, with back-to-back losses to Denison University (17-11). Defiance dropped the first game, 8-7, in extra innings, before suffering a 10-5 loss in the nightcap.

The doubleheader got off to a promising start for Defiance, as Kelly Schnipke toed the rubber for DC and quickly retired the first three batters. In the bottom half of the inning, Tasha Stucke led off with a single to right field, and eventually came around to score the first run of the game on a wild pitch.

Denison came back to tie the game, 1-1, in the top of the second as the leadoff hitter, Brie Berkopec, reached base with a single up the middle, and took advantage of a wild pitch to plate the Big Red's first run of the game. However, the Jackets reclaimed their lead in the bottom half of the inning as Aubrie Ridinger knocked a ball through the middle of the infield to bring Elizabeth Huffman in to score.

The Big Red found two runs on three hits in the top of the third to claim a one-run lead, but DC would match with two runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth to claim a one-run advantage for the third time in the game.  

Defiance held the Big Red scoreless for three-straight innings, and needed three outs in the top of the seventh to secure the victory, but Denison's Molly Sack would not cooperate, as she belted a solo homerun over the right-center field wall to push the game into extra innings.

After a scoreless eighth inning, the Big Red put the pressure on Defiance with three runs in the top of the ninth, but the Jackets would respond with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to knot the game up, 7-7, going into the 10th frame.

Denison notched another run in the top of the 10th, and DC was unable to respond this time, leaving three runners stranded as the Big Red escaped with the win.

The second contest was not as close as the first. Denison plated three runs in the top of the second, one in the top of the third, and two more in the fifth frame to take a six-run advantage over Defiance, who was held scoreless through the first four frames.

The Yellow Jackets got a little momentum going their way in the bottom of the fifth as Katelyn Samples reached safely on a throwing error by the pitcher, and proceeded to round the bases for DC's first run of the game as the ball rolled slowly to the right field fence. Mallory Faling followed with a two-run home run to make it a 6-3 game, and Katie Miller went on to hit her second triple of the season, eventually coming around to score on a single by Aarika Davis to cut the deficit to two runs.

Both teams would plate a run in the sixth inning, and the Big Red went on to score three more runs in the top of the seventh to put the game out of reach, and complete the series sweep.

The Yellow Jackets (14-12, 4-4 HCAC) enter a critical stretch of their season on Friday, April 16, with an HCAC doubleheader at Transylvania (21-7, 4-0 HCAC), before playing another conference doubleheader on Saturday, at Mount St. Joseph (6-14, 0-6). The team currently sits in the fifth-place spot in the conference standings, and will need to move into fourth place in order to clinch a spot in the HCAC Tournament.