GAMBIER, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University won a pair of extra-inning games on Sunday against Kenyon College in a North Coast Athletic Conference softball doubleheader. In the opener, a wild pitch allowed the Battling Bishops to tie the game in the seventh before pulling away in the eighth, and in the second contest, a couple stolen bases with Kenyon's defensive attention down aided OWU in its 9-8 win. For the Ladies, it's the first eight-game losing streak since 2012.
 
GAME ONE
 
Competition was close early on as the two teams were tied 4-4 after three innings. OWU got ahead 3-0 in the first highlighted by a Taylor Dickson two-run homer to center field. Kenyon fought back though with two runs in the inning as Jane Ghublikian stole home and Molly O'Connor connected with a two-run double.
 
After the Ladies took the lead in the second off a sacrifice bunt and error, the Battling Bishops tallied a run in the third to tie the game. Lareese Marston singled with two outs to right field plating Erin Ferguson.
 
OWU added two more runs to go back up 6-4 in the fourth when Sarah Flint hit a one-run double and Ferguson hit a sacrifice fly.
 
The back-and-forth affair went back in the Ladies' favor though in the fifth and sixth innings as they totaled three runs.
 
Sophie Silberman led off the inning with her first collegiate homer to left field and later Ghublikian added a sac fly to center field. In the sixth, Silberman continued her solid play with a two-out double to right center driving in Sylvie Thomas. That moved Kenyon back ahead 7-6.
 
That lead didn't hold though. Ohio Wesleyan's Taylor Day doubled in the seventh, and following a groundout which moved her to third base, a 2-2 pitch sailed high into the backstop and allowed her to score with two outs.
 
In the eighth, OWU's bats came alive as they got five hits and a half-dozen runs. Two batters after Amanda Boyle reached on a fielding error from Ladies pitcher Austen Whibley, Ferguson hit a two-run double to right center giving the visitors a lead they never relinquished. Ohio Wesleyan added four more runs to go up 13-7.
 
Kenyon got a run in the home half of the inning but nothing more.
 
GAME TWO
 
The Ladies fell behind 5-0 after four innings of play before rallying to the tie the game in the bottom of the fifth.
 
Silberman led off the fifth with a double and in the next plate appearance, Nicole Horita dropped a two-bagger in right-center field driving home Silberman. Down 5-1, the Ladies pulled closer as Amanda Coyle doubled to right center scoring Horita. Ghublikian and Grace Pilz added RBI singles during the inning as well and in the final at-bat of the frame, O'Connor hit a two-out double scoring two more and tied the game at 5-5.
 
The game got even tenser in the seventh.
 
Ohio Wesleyan seized the lead again in that inning as Ferguson hit a double plating Ashley Day who led off the inning by reaching on an error. Dickson moved OWU's lead to 9-7 with her one-out single to center field which brought Ferguson home.
 
But the Ladies rallied again in the home half of the seventh. O'Connor singled to left center scoring the Ladies' eighth run and once again, Silberman came up big with a double to right field pushing Lindsey Susolik home.
 
That took the game to extra innings. In the eighth, Boyle hit a two-out single and later advanced to second on a stolen base. Ashley Day followed in the batter's box with a walk, but as she made her way to first, Boyle stole third catching the Kenyon defense off-guard. Sarah Flint then made Kenyon pay with a two-run single to left field giving OWU a 9-7 lead.
 
Despite OWU retaking the lead, the Ladies still had a chance to at least tie the game. Maldonado had an RBI double to bring the score to 9-8, but in the final at-bat of the game, a check swing from Silberman popped up to the first baseman ending the contest.
 
Kenyon will try and get back in the win column on April 20 when they host Case Western Reserve University at 3:30 p.m.