Tigers Drop Two Close Games to DePauw

GREENCASTLE, IN-The Wittenberg Softball team traveled to Indiana to take on DePauw in a battle of Tigers in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). Despite both games being close, DePuaw pulled off the sweep by scores of 7-4 and 3-0. With the two losses, Wittenberg dropped to 21-9 (4-4 NCAC) while the DePuaw Tigers improved to 18-10 (10-0 NCAC).

In the first game, Samantha Zungri (Canal Winchester, OH / Canal Winchester) threw all six innings for the Tigers, allowing seven runs, only four of which were earned, on 11 hits while striking out one batter and walking none. Wittenberg took the lead in the first inning with a run scoring on an error, and Hanna Ecker (Heath, OH / Heath) drove in another run on a double to right field. DePauw responded, scoring three in the second to take the lead, and Wittenberg answered by tying the game with an Ecker RBI single in the third. Wittenberg took a one-run lead in the fifth inning as Kennedy Reed (Lewis Center, OH / Olentangy Orange) scored on a sacrifice fly. DePauw was able to come back and score four in the bottom of the bottom of the inning to end the scoring for both teams in order to end the game with a DePauw win, 7-4.

Game One Team Leaders

• Ecker led the team with four hits and Kirsten Wright (Springfield, OH / Kenton Ridge) was the only other player with more than one, finishing the game with two.
• Ecker also led in RBI with two and the other RBIs from Wittenberg came from Wright and Kaela May (Tipp City, OH / Tippecanoe).

Game One Team Comparison

• DePauw was able to lead or be tied with Wittenberg in every category aside from walks, as Wittenberg drew three walks and DePauw did not walk a single time.

Game Two

In game two, runs were much harder to come by for both teams and the pitchers played very well throughout as well. Julie Hall (Powell, OH / Bishop Watterson) started in the circle for Wittenberg and threw three innings, allowing three runs on five hits and struck out five. Lilly James (Troy, OH / Troy) came in to relieve Hall and threw three scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and recording two strikeouts. The DePauw Tigers were able to score one in the third and two in the fourth and while Wittenberg recorded six hits, they were unable to push a run across the plate.

Game Two Team Leaders

• Julia Burch (Dublin, OH / Dublin Jerome) and Diana Quevedo (La Quinta, CA / La Quinta) tied for the team lead in hits with two each.
• Hall led the pitching staff in strikeouts with three over three innings in the circle.

Game Two Team Comparison

• Once again, DePuaw led or tied Wittenberg in every statistical category aside fro strikeouts, as DePauw struck out five times and Wittenberg only had four batters strikeout.

The Tigers are back in action on Tuesday, April 22nd, where they will take on Muskingum in a doubleheader with the first game starting at 3:30 p.m.

Written By: Grant Martin