John Carroll uses big innings, late rally to sweep Softball in OAC double header Saturday at Ada Park

By Tim Glon

ADA -- John Carroll used four big innings and a late rally to defeat Ohio Northern 12-6 and 6-5 in an Ohio Athletic Conferene softball double header Saturday afternoon at Ada Park.

The games were moved to Ada Park due to wet field conditions at the ONU Softball Field.

The Polar Bears fall to 1-7 overall and are 0-2 in OAC play, while the Blue Streaks improve to 9-3, 2-0.

Junior Carly McKenzie went 3-for-4 with her first collegiate home run, two doubles and three RBI to lead the ONU offense in Game 1.

McKenzie hit her home run in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game at 1-1.

JCU scored four runs in each of the fourth and sixth innings and added three more in the seventh to take control of the game.

Freshman Anne Dreher hit her first collegiate home run in the bottom of the sixth and McKenzie followed with a 2-run double to get ONU within 9-5.

Ashlee Unrue hit two home runs and Colleen Brady hit one home run to lead the JCU offense.

In Game 2, sophomore Jamie Westenkirchner, junior Christin Miller and Dreher each collected three base hits for ONU.

The Polar Bears scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning.

Senior Ashley Sujkowski, Westenkirchner and Dreher each had consecutive RBIs in the frame.

A bases-loaded walk by Westenkirchner pushed ONU's lead to 4-0 in the second inning.

Westenkirchner led off the fourth inning with a solo home, her first dinger of the season, to make it a 5-0 Polar Bear lead.

The advantage could have been much larger, as ONU left the bases loaded in each of the first four innings, and that would come into play as the game wore on.

The Blue Streaks used another big inning to get back into the game, scoring four times in the top of the fifth, to pull within 5-4.

JCU tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the seventh on a 2-out single by Brady.

Morgan Robinson then led off the top of the eighth inning with a solo home run to give JCU  a 6-5 lead.

Northern threatened in the home half of the eighth when Westenkirchner led off with a single, but she was stranded at first as JCU earned the sweep.

The Polar Bears are slated to host No. 5-ranked Trine (Ind.) on Tuesday in a non-conference double header at the ONU Softball Field, weather permitting.