DELAWARE, Ohio -- The Kenyon College softball team kept rolling over its busy week, splitting a doubleheader at Ohio Wesleyan University on Saturday afternoon. Playing their third of four twin bills this week, the Owls fell 9-3 in game one before bouncing back with a big 8-4 victory in game two to end the outing on a high note.

Kenyon improved to a 4-2 record over its busy week, and the Owls boosted their season record to 18-12 overall and 3-7 in North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play. On the other side, Ohio Wesleyan fell to 9-25 overall and 4-8 in conference action.

Both ends of the doubleheader followed similar scripts as the winning team took an early lead in each game. In game one, the Battling Bishops scored two first-inning runs before building a 4-0 lead after three innings. In game two, the Owls jumped out to an early edge, tacking on five runs in just the top of the first inning.

Kenyon's big game-two frame saw all the scoring go down as unearned runs, but all five runs counted on the scoreboard. After two quick outs, the Owls offense benefitted from a mixture of hits, OWU errors, stolen bases, and a walk as six straight Owls reached safely. Keala Montgomery started the stretch with a single before Brooke Avila reached on an error. Maeve McLaughlin brought both runners home with a two-RBI double before a Lindsey George walk had two more Owls on the pond. An RBI single from Kinsey White put the Owls up 3-0, and Sophia Lynch launched a two-RBI double down the line to push the lead to five before the home team had a chance to hit.

The Bishops bounced back with an unearned run in the bottom of the frame, and they kept chipping away at the lead when another unearned run came around in the fourth frame. In the sixth inning, two RBI hits had Ohio Wesleyan within a run as the Owls' lead was cut to 5-4.

However, Lynch came up big in the ensuing half-inning with an RBI single, and Madison Buckwalter all but put the Bishops away with a big two-RBI hit that capped the 8-4 win. Amanda Harris, Allison McCutchen, and Jillian Messinger combined in the circle to get the Owls through the game, and Messinger (3-0) earned the win while Harris had a strong start.

Offensively, McLaughlin and White both went 3-for-4, while Montgomery, Lynch, and Buckwalter were all 2-for-4. Lynch led the way with three RBIs, while McLaughlin and Buckwalter had two apiece. 

Back in game one, all of Kenyon's scoring came in a sixth inning that saw the teams combine for eight of the game's 12 runs. Overall, the frenetic frame featured a combined six hits and three errors as Kenyon scored three runs to pull within one before OWU pulled away with a five-run frame.

Natalya Delsante led Kenyon's offense with two hits in three at-bats, and the senior scored the Owls' first run. McLaughlin and Leah Kuban both added an RBI, while McLaughlin and Emma Cashell scored the team's other two runs.

The Owls have a quick turnaround as the team welcomes The College of Wooster to Gambier in less than 24 hours. The NCAC twin bill is set to start at 1 p.m. at Kenyon's Softball Complex, and the Owls will be celebrating Kenyon faculty and staff during the Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day.