CEDARVILLE, Ohio – Ohio Dominican's softball team went on the road to Cedarville and came away with a non-conference sweep of the Yellow Jackets on Tuesday evening, winning the opener 7-2 before surviving a late scare and taking game two by a score of 8-6.

In the bottom of the seventh inning in the second game, the Yellow Jackets had two runners on base with two outs and hit a double to seemingly tie the score at 8-8. However, the batter had never been officially re-entered into the game after exiting earlier for a pinch-runner and thus was called out, ending the game in a two-run victory for the Panthers.

ODU has now won a season-best six straight games and improves to 13-11 on the year. The Panthers have now scored at least seven runs in each of their last five games.

The Panthers pounded out 13 hits in the opener and used a five-run fourth inning to take control of the game.

In front 1-0 and with the bases loaded, sophomore Taylor Kline (Bellville, Ohio) reached on an infield single that scored senior Brier Sanner (Hartville, Ohio). Sophomore Liz Sutter (Mansfield, Ohio) followed with a two-run single back up the middle, and two batters later senior Kelsey Albanese (Westerville, Ohio) followed suit with her own two-run single through the middle to give the Panthers a 6-0 cushion.

Cedarville (8-14) scored twice in the fifth, but senior Julia Suyak (Trenton, Mich.) provided an insurance for the Panthers in the sixth on an RBI single that plated junior Casey Murdoch (Morrow, Ohio) to make it 7-2.

Freshman Abby Lamping (Cleves, Ohio) worked 5.0 innings and allowed two unearned runs. She surrendered just five hits and walked one batter. The right-hander has now won seven consecutive starts and is tied for second in the conference with eight wins, as of Tuesday evening.

Kline finished 3-for-4 with two runs, a walk and a steal, while Sutter, Albanese and Suyak each had two hits.

In game two, Sutter's RBI grounder in the first inning gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead, but Cedarville countered with a run to even the score in the bottom half.

The score remained that way until the fourth when the Panthers took advantage of a pair of Yellow Jacket errors to score three times. Suyak and Lamping each scored on throwing errors and Kline had an RBI single that brought in Dempsey to put ODU in front 4-1.

Cedarville answered in the bottom half, though, as ODU committed a pair of errors themselves, helping lead to four Yellow Jacket runs. CU did leave the bases loaded however, as Murdoch ended the inning with a strikeout.

The Panthers then scored the game's next four runs to go on top 8-5. Albanese scored on a pair of errors in the fifth inning to level the score at 5-5, and Murdoch hit a two-run single in the sixth to give ODU a 7-5 advantage. Later, Albanese hit a sacrifice fly to give the Panthers a three-run lead.

Cedarville scored once in the bottom of the sixth but stranded two runners on base, then failed to successfully convert on their scoring chance in the seventh.

The two teams combined for 11 errors in the second game – seven by Cedarville, four by ODU – and the Panthers managed 11 more hits in the game.

Kline, Murdoch and Suyak each had a pair of hits, while freshman Kylie Dempsey (Liberty Township, Ohio) drew two walks as well.

Kline has now safely reached base in 20 consecutive games and has 12 multi-hit efforts on the season as well.

Murdoch was credited with the win after pitching 3.1 innings of relief, allowing two hits and two unearned runs.

Ohio Dominican returns home to face No. 2 Indianapolis with a doubleheader starting at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The Panthers fell 5-4 to the Greyhounds in Nashville on Feb. 28.

Contact: Scott Miles
miless@ohiodominican.edu