Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – The Kenyon College softball team started out Wednesday's North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader on the right foot by chalking up a 1-0 decision against host Wittenberg University. The Ladies, however, could not keep it going in game two and fell to the Tigers by a 10-2 count.

The game-one loss for the Tigers was their first in conference action this season. After rebounding in game two, they pushed their records to 13-3 overall and 3-1 in the NCAC. The split for Kenyon moved the Ladies' records to 16-8 overall and 2-4 in the conference.   

Thanks to the pitching arm of Maddy Stark, who put together yet another complete-game shutout, the Ladies offense needed just the one run in the opening game. Stark, a junior, allowed only five hits and two walks in seven innings of work. She fanned three batters, hit one, and didn't give up an extra-base hit. Stark is now 9-3 on the season and has seven complete-game shutouts. She's given up just one earned run in her last 17 innings of work.

The Ladies ended up scoring the game-winning run in the top of the sixth inning. Lindsey Susolik led off the frame with a single. Elizabeth Ovieda pinch ran for Susolik and was pushed around the bases thanks to base-on-balls drawn by Chelsea Delaney and Molly O'Connor. With the bases loaded, Sylvie Thomas stepped to the plate for Kenyon and delivered a one-out, pinch-hit single to right field. Ovieda then came around to score the only run the Kenyon women would need.

Although the Ladies' lineup scored just the one run, it did rough up Wittenberg starter Rachel Ross, who came into the game with a 9-2 record and a 1.37 earned run average. The Ladies managed nine hits off her and also drew five walks.

In game two, it was Wittenberg's turn to break out the whooping sticks. The Tigers banged around 11 hits to score ten times and wrapped up the second game in the fifth inning by applying the eight-run mercy rule. Thomas, Kenyon's freshman starting pitcher, took the loss and fell to 7-5 on the season.

Wittenberg got to Thomas for three runs in the first inning and then four more in the third inning. Meanwhile, Kenyon batters were having a hard time solving Tigers' starter Alyssa Durette, who pitched all five innings and gave up two earned runs on five hits. Two of those hits were home runs off the bat of Delaney, who ripped solo shots in the second and fifth innings to account for all of Kenyon's game-two scoring. The homers were Delaney's first two of the season and the 13th and 14th of her collegiate career.

The busy week continues for Kenyon on Thursday, when the Ladies travel to Westerville, Ohio to take on the Otterbein University Cardinals in a 3:30 p.m. non-conference doubleheader.  Saturday, the Ladies will host Ohio Wesleyan University and Sunday they'll travel to Hiram College.