GAMBIER, Ohio – The Kenyon College Ladies (26-8, 7-5 NCAC) earned just their second sweep of Denison University (10-14, 2-4 NCAC) Tuesday afternoon in a North Coast Athletic Conference softball doubleheader on a cloudy day in Gambier. It was the first time since 2004 that the Ladies won twice against the Big Red. Game one saw a 7-5 tally and the sweep by the Ladies was capped off with a 6-0 score in game two.
 
GAME ONE
 
Kenyon jumped out to a 2-0 lead scoring a run in each of the first two innings. Lindsey Susolik drew a bases-loaded walk in the first and Jane Ghublikian followed in the second with an RBI single through the left side plating Hayley Howard.
 
After a scoreless third inning, the Big Red responded the tie the contest in the fourth as pitcher Lauren Secaras roped a two-run shot over the left-field fence.
 
But just as Denison rebounded, the Ladies fought back in the home half of the fourth to regain the lead.
 
Maddy Stark grounded out but moved Howard and Madi Maldonado into scoring position and in the next at-bat, Ghublikian hit a blooper to right field scoring Howard. With a 3-2 lead, Chelsea Delaney came up two batters later and got a run-scoring hit pushing the Ladies back up by two again, 4-2. Kenyon's final two runs during the fourth came on a bases-loaded walk issued to Nicole Horita and Danielle Elizarraraz scoring on wild pitch.
 
Denison nearly rallied to tie the game in the fifth as Kerry Hager hit a bases-clearing double to center field. That brought the count to 6-5, but the Big Red stranded a runner after that and Kenyon remained on top.
 
Susolik moved the Ladies back up a pair of runs in the sixth as she smacked her sixth homer of the year to left center.
 
In the seventh, a dramatic ending lifted Kenyon to another win. Denison loaded the bases with just one out after shortstop Ryan Lee singled. But in the next at-bat, Anna Balch sent a grounder to Maldonado at third which resulted in a 5-2-3 double play to end the game.
 
GAME TWO
 
A five-run second inning highlighted the Ladies' efforts in the nightcap.
 
Elizarraraz collected her first two-out RBI of the season when she drove in pinch runner Emily Olson with a hard groundball past first base to break the scoreless tie. Two batters later, Maldonado singled to right field and the ball went underneath the legs of the defender allowing two more to score.
 
Stark ended the big second inning with a two-run homer to left field.
 
The Big Red never got into rhythm in game two as Stark allowed just five hits to the visitors from Granville.  Only a pair of Denison base-runners made into scoring position during the seven-inning affair.
 
Kenyon's final tally came in the fifth as Olson scored on a fielder's choice from Elizarraraz.
 
Stark earned her 17th win of the year in the circle while also going 3-for-4 at the plate. Delaney also added three hits, all of which were doubles, for the Ladies.
 
Next up for the Kenyon is a trip to College of Wooster (14-10, 5-1 NCAC) April 18 for an NCAC doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.