Softball splits OAC twin-bill with Otterbein

By: Tim Glon

ADA — Ohio Northern and Otterbein split an Ohio Athletic Conference softball double header Thursday afternoon at the ONU Softball Field.

Otterbein won the opener 7-1 and ONU took the nightcap 8-4.

The Polar Bears move to 19-9 overall and 9-3 in OAC play, while the Cardinals move to 21-13, 6-8.

Junior Katie Cretin had a pair of doubles and drove in 5 RBI to lead ONU in Game 2.

Cretin hit a two-out, 3-run double in the top of the first to put Northern up 3-0.

Sophomore Megan Anten made it 4-0 Polar Bears with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the third.

OU tied the game with four runs in the top of the fifth.

Northern broke the tie with four unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth.

First, OU left fielder Kristin Ramer dropped a long fly ball by junior All-American Kimi Blewett with two outs, allowing freshman Christa Miller to score from second and put ONU up 5-4.

Sophomore Ashley Sujkowski followed with a 2-run triple off the right field fence to put the Polar Bears up 7-4 and Cretin laced an RBI double to left center to score Sujkowski and make it an 8-4 game.

Sophomore Katy Newman (5-2) got the win in relief for ONU.

In Game 1, OU struck first when Casey Clarridge walked, stole second and scored on a bloop single by Brooke Albright.

The game was delayed due to rain for six minutes after the top of the sixth inning with the score still tied at 1-0.

Otterbein put the game away with a 6-run seventh frame, keyed by a three-run home run by Laura Basford.

Junior Maggie Molnar took the loss to fall to 5-3.

Sophomore Michelle Sweet drove in ONU's run in the bottom of the seventh.

Northern left 14 runners on base in the game and stranded 22 runners on the afternoon.

The double header was the first in a streak that will see ONU play eight games in four days. Schedule changes due to heavy rains in the area the last week means Northern will face Otterbein, Muskingum, Mount Union and Wilmington in the next four days.