WESTERVILLE, Ohio - Third-inning collapses doomed the Kenyon College softball team in both games of a doubleheader against Otterbein University on Sunday. The Ladies struggled to score and could not match the Cardinals' hot hitting streaks, leading to a 10-2 loss in game one and a 17-5 blowout in game two.

Kenyon (8-1) drew first blood in the first contest as Otterbein (11-2) starting pitcher Rachael Owens issued a bases-loaded walk to Grace Pilz, advancing Amanda Ogata to home.

The Cardinals recovered in the bottom of the second with two runs, including a homer from junior Megan Garner.

Otterbein pulled ahead in the third inning with a three-run play. With bases loaded, Owens hit a single up the middle plating two, and an error allowed another runner to score. The Cardinals notched one more run before the Ladies forced them off the field with a double play.

Facing down a 6-1 deficit, Kenyon left the top of the fourth without a hit, and in the bottom, Otterbein sealed the game with two homers that produced three more runs. Kenyon's Britny Patterson walloped a home run into left field in the fifth, but the Cardinals matched with one more run in the sixth to secure a run-rule victory.

Kenyon struggled to match Otterbein's offense, snagging just four hits to the Cardinals' fourteen. Owens contributed to Kenyon's hitting woes, striking out five batters in as many innings.

Game two started more evenly. Although the Ladies gave up three runs to the Cardinals in the first, they responded in the second with three of their own, including homers from Pilz and Allison Stratman. After the top of the third, the game was tied at 5-5.

In the bottom of the third, Otterbein blew the game wide open, punching in eleven runs on nine hits to sink Kenyon into a staggering 16-5 hole.

Otterbein's Kasey Morris opened the floodgates with a single that plated Kayla Queer and left the bases loaded. The Cardinals took advantage and manufactured runs like an assembly line: Three consecutive doubles yielded five runs, and two singles after that tallied one more.

Kenyon reliever Austen Whibley came to the mound for Keely Sweet and stemmed the tide for a moment, collecting a quick fly out and strikeout. But Otterbein would not go quietly, and the Cardinals loaded the bases once more, just in time for Morris to clear them with a backbreaking home run.

The Ladies failed to score in the next two innings, and one more Cardinal run left the score at 17-5 when the game ended after the top of the fifth.

The losses knock the Ladies two games below .500 and, with their loss to Geneva College on March 11, leave them sitting on a three-game losing streak. Kenyon will look to halt the skid against Case Western Reserve University with two games on Tuesday in Cleveland starting at 3 p.m.