Yellow Jackets Win Pair of Extra Inning Contests

DEFIANCE, OHIO -- The Defiance College softball team needed extra innings in both games, but were able to finish with a pair of victories over the Calvin College Knights in non-conference action at Sal Hench Field. DC won game one, 2-1, while winning the nightcap, 5-4.

In game one, The Knights scored their only run of the contest off of an error in the fourth frame, handing the Knights a 1-0 lead. DC earned it back in the sixth as sophomore Jordan Osborne (Delaware/Rutherford B. Hayes) doubled to left field. Two batters later, senior Megan Warren (Mason) drove her in with a single to center field. 

After each team left people on base in the seventh, the game advanced to an extra frame. Calvin could not convert in their half of the inning, but Defiance finished it off, as Osborne scored on a wild pitch to bring home a 2-1 win.

Junior Sarah Kaya (Lorain/Clearview) threw the full eight innings for Defiance, allowing just one unearned run on five hits, while striking out five Knights.

Calvin kicked off game two by scoring one run in the second and two more in the third frame to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Warren squeaked a double by the third baseman in the bottom of the third, cutting the deficit to 3-1.  Calvin fought back in the fourth and saw the lead extend to 4-1.

Defiance started to rally in the sixth, getting a pinch-hit RBI-double from Libby Leach (Cheshire/River Valley) to cut the deficit to 4-2. Defiance continued it into the seventh, as Warren walked and Brooke Gostomsky (Covington) singled to kick off the inning. Junior Kaity Kuhn (Celina) doubled down the left field line to make it a 4-3 game and advance pinch-runner, Kaya, to third. Kaya then scored on a wild pitch in the very next at-bat to tie the game at 4-4, sending the game to extras.

DC began the eighth inning with a 6-3-5 double play, leading the charge for a scoreless eighth for Calvin. In the bottom half, Jess Mello (Vermilion) sacrificed Michaela Bauer (Hicksville) to third to start the inning before Osborne drove her in with a walk-off single over the right fielder's head to give Defiance a 5-4 come-from-behind victory.

Freshman Sydney Zeuch (Mason/Mount Notre Dame) gave up three runs (two earned) on seven hits in 2.1 innings to start for Defiance. Freshman Sydni Smith (Jackson, Mich./Lumen Christi) allowed a run on three hits in 2.2 innings before sophomore Rachel Wehrman (Fort Loramie/Minster) threw three scoreless frames in her first career collegiate game, allowing just two hits while picking up her first career win.

Offensively, the Defiance bats erupted, as Osborne, Warren, and Gostomsky each finished with a pair of hits for Defiance in game two.

Defiance will return to Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, Apr. 22 with a road trip to Terre Haute, Ind. to battle Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. First pitch for game one is set for 1 p.m.