SPRINGFIELD, Ohio – For the second straight day, the Kenyon Ladies softball team struggled to find enough offense to produce some wins as they fell to Wittenberg University in a North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader. The Tigers took the opener 5-2 before winning 2-1 in the second contest.
 
GAME ONE
 
Until the seventh inning, Kenyon found just four base-runners on two hits, an error and a walk. During that time, Wittenberg tallied five runs.
 
The Tigers got out to a 2-0 lead in the second frame as they scored with two outs. Kaela Hughes drove in Katy Baumgarner with a shot to center field and later Missy Lee stole home.
 
Wittenberg moved ahead 4-0 in the next inning when Baumgartner got a single of her own to center bringing in Casey Hobbs and Loren Combs. The home team's final run came in the fifth as Combs drove in Hughes.
 
Down 5-0, the Ladies finally got on the board in the seventh as freshman Austen Whibley smacked her third homer of the season, this one a two-run shot which brought Amanda Ogata home as well. That was the only scoring for Kenyon though as the final two plate appearances resulted in a flyout and popout.
 
The Ladies' four hits in the game came from Whibley, Ogata, Grace Pilz and Mari Colucci.
 
GAME TWO
 
Kenyon got the first lead of the game right from the get-go as senior Jane Ghublikian tripled and was later brought home on an Ogata RBI groundout. But after that, the Ladies threatened just one more time as the Tigers got a couple of runs and received some solid pitching from Abby Haab and Chelsea Zang.
 
Down 1-0, Wittenberg tied the game in the home half of the first when Rachel Black drove in Hobbs with a hit to center field. Just like game one, the Tigers got their first run with two outs and were aided by a wild pitch which allowed Hobbs to get to third.
 
After Wittenberg retired the Kenyon side in the second, they came back up to bat and got what turned out to be the go-ahead run. Lauren Buelow hit a two-out double plating Abby Baker who led off the inning reaching first after a Ladies error.
 
The only other time Kenyon threatened to at least tie the game came in the third frame. With two outs, Ghublikian singled and Madi Maldonado followed with a walk to put two on. But Zang got a groundout in the next at-bat to end the scoring chance.
 
From the fifth inning on, Zang retired the side including striking out three Kenyon batters. By game's end, Zang had struck out four while not allowing a hit.
 
Ghublikian tallied two of Kenyon's three hits in the contest. Whibley took the tough-luck loss as she tossed a complete game, fanned eight batters and allowed just one earned run.
 
The Ladies will try to get back on track this coming Saturday, April 16 when they host The College of Wooster for an NCAC twinbill starting at 1:00 p.m.