Bican tosses no-hitter, Stewart homers twice as Softball goes 2-0 Thursday in Florida

By Bud Denega 

CLERMONT, Fla. — The Ohio Northern softball team showcased its versatility Thursday at the Spring Games played on Hancock #3. The Polar Bears utilized their pitching in one victory and broke out the bats in the other. 

Northern toppled Concordia-Moorhead (Minn.) 2-0, and rallied to beat St. Joseph's (Me.) 13-5. The wins improved ONU to 5-3 on the season.

Freshman Allie Bican (Solon) pitching performance spearheaded the win over the Cobbers. She twirled a no-hitter, giving up just one walk with 10 strikeouts. 

Sophomore Lauren Renner (Columbus/Hilliard Bradley) had an RBI double and fellow sophomore Abby Elliott (Loveland/Ursuline) logged the other RBI base hit, and that was more than enough offense. 

The Polar Bears needed the bats to heat up against the Monks, and while it took some time, they eventually did. ONU trailed 5-2 entering the top of the sixth inning before plating three and eight runs in the last two innings, respectively. 

Senior Gabby Stewart (Union, Ky./St. Henry) got things started, knotting things up at 5-5 on a three-run blast. She crushed another home run in the seventh, of the two-run variety, which made it 10-5. Senior Alicia Swierz (Deerfield/Southeast) and junior Abby Davis (New Palestine, Ind.) preceded Stewart's seventh-inning homer with RBIs of their own. 

Freshman Annika Murray (Hilliard / Hilliard Bradley), and sophomores Lauren Renner (Columbus/Hilliard Bradley) and Rachel Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) each tacked on an RBI in the seventh to give the game its final tally. 

Murray had three hits in the contest, while Swierz, Davis, sophomore Hannah Rubel (Swanton/Notre Dame), senior Jordan Cloonan (Kirtland/Cornerstone Christian) and sophomore pitcher Kaitlyn Hagarty (Akron/Revere) all enjoyed multi-hit games, as well. 

Hagarty went all seven innings against St. Joseph's, allowing five earned runs on nine hits with one strikeout to improve to 2-1 on the year. 

The Polar Bears wrap up play at the Spring Games Friday against Roanoke (Va.) and Chatham (Pa.).