HIRAM, Ohio – The Kenyon Ladies almost picked up their second consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference softball doubleheader sweep on Tuesday afternoon at Hiram College. Kenyon rolled in the opener by a 10-3 count before letting the second contest get away due to some errors in late innings which resulted in a 4-3 defeat.
 
GAME ONE
 
After falling behind 3-0, the Ladies scored half a dozen runs in the third to seize control of the game.
 
Madi Maldonado got the scoring going as she drew a bases-loaded walk which plated Danielle Elizarraraz. In the next at-bat, freshman Grace Pilz connected with a sacrifice fly to left field bringing the deficit to 3-2. The Ladies then took the lead for good a few batters later as Molly O'Connor doubled to center field scoring two more. Elizarraraz capped off the scoring in the inning with an RBI single to left field.
 
With a 6-3 lead, freshman pitcher Austen Whibley and the Ladies' defense got into a couple sticky situations but never allowed the Terriers to score from the third through the end of the game. In fact, Hiram collected just two hits and got only two base-runners into scoring position during that time.
 
In the seventh inning, the Kenyon lead ballooned to 10-3 as Amanda Coyle had a two-run single while Maldonado and Pilz each drove in runs.
 
Offensively, Maldonado had three hits and drove in a pair while Elizarraraz also collected three hits. Nicole Horita and Jane Ghublikian also had two hits. In the circle, Whibley got her 12th win of the year as she allowed five hits, struck out two and induced a combined 18 groundouts and flyouts.
 
GAME TWO
 
The visitors got out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning as Lindsey Susolik hit a two-out single to right field scoring Maldonado. That one-run lead remained the same until the Ladies went up 2-0 in the top of the sixth when Sophie Silberman connected with a RBI single.
 
Defensively, Kenyon was nearly flawless until the sixth and seventh innings. Up until the final two frames, the Terriers collected just one hit and got just one runner in scoring position.
 
But the solid defensive play didn't hold at the end.
 
In the sixth, the Ladies got two outs on the Terriers after a fly out to center. The next at-bat, however, saw an error from the pitching circle which loaded the bases. Nicole Hoy followed with a two-out double to right center field plating the tying runs.
 
Despite giving up a 2-0 lead, Kenyon's offense settled in during the top of the seventh and went back up 3-2 on Ghublikian's two-out RBI single.
 
That lead didn't hold, however, as Hiram was once again aided by a Ladies error. After Emily Syrjala reached on a miscue with one out, a wild pitch moved two runners into scoring position. Jessica Wahl followed with a game-winning, two-run single to left center bringing the final tally to 4-3.
 
Ghublikian was the only Ladies batter to collect multiple hits during the game while five others tallied a single hit. Whibley took the tough loss as she tossed 6.1 innings, allowed just one earned run while fanning two.
 
Kenyon will close its season on Saturday with a trip to DePauw University for another NCAC doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.