Softball Drops Two at Denison

GRANVILLE, OHIO -- The Defiance College softball team was defeated by Denison University in both games of a non-conference doubleheader, 4-2 and 9-4, in Granville, Ohio.

The Big Red (11-5) started the scoring with three runs in the third inning of game one to take the lead. The Yellow Jackets (7-9) garnered just two hits in the first four innings before sophomore Jackie Hartman (Parma/Padua Franciscan) slammed a solo shot over the center field fence to cut the deficit to 3-1. Denison extended the lead to 4-1 through six frames but DC would threaten in the seventh.

The rally began with a double from junior Haley Patty (Bradford) to lead off the inning. Two batters later, Patty scored on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Michaela Bauer (Hicksville) to make the score 4-2. But the threat ended on a strikeout, as DC would go on to drop the opener, 4-2.

The home team scattered 15 hits, but it would add up to just four runs for the Big Red. Junior Sarah Kaya (Lorain/Clearview) pitched the entire game for DC and fell to 4-5 for the season after the defeat. Kaya also had a pair of strikeouts on the contest.

Patty was the lone Jacket with multiple hits, going two-for-three in the early contest.

The Big Red racked up eight runs in the first three innings of the second game, jumping to a quick 8-0 advantage. The Yellow Jackets got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning, as senior Megan Warren (Mason) and freshman Brooke Gostomsky (Covington) worked consecutive walks and were drove in on a bases-clearing double by Hartman cutting the deficit to 8-2. Denison drove the lead out to, 9-2, before a two-run single from Patty in the sixth rounded out the scoring, giving Defiance a 9-4 loss.

Sophomore Jamie Kimbler (Huber Heights/Wayne) started on the mound for DC, pitching two innings while giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits. Freshman Sydney Zeuch (Mason/Mount Notre Dame) came on in relief, throwing four innings and allowing five runs, only one of them earned, on five hits.

The Yellow Jacket offense was dominated by Hartman, who went two-for-three while driving in all four runs in the nightcap.

Defiance hits the road again on Monday, Mar. 27 with a scheduled trip to Albion, Mich. for a non-conference doubleheader with Albion (Mich.) College. The first game is set to begin at 3:30 p.m.