Strong outings from Walters, Griffin highlight Softball’s doubleheader split with Wooster
By Wes Mayberry
ADA — Senior Stacey Walters (Sunbury/Big Walnut) and sophomore Kaylie Griffin (Grafton/Elyria Catholic) led the Ohio Northern softball team in a doubleheader split with Wooster on Thursday at the ONU Softball Field.
The Polar Bears (17-9 overall) won 6-1 in the opener, and the Fighting Scots (17-19 overall) took Game 2 by a score of 4-2.
ONU clinched its ninth straight winning season with the Game 1 victory.
Walters and Griffin shined in Game 1 as ONU extended its winning streak to seven games.
Walters pitched all seven innings and allowed just the one run on eight hits and one walk while striking out eight to improve to 3-3 on the season.
Griffin led the offense, going 2-for-4 at the plate with a home run and four RBIs.
Griffin's first-inning homer to left field got the scoring started, as she plated senior Abby Elliott (Loveland/Ursuline), who drew a leadoff walk.
An RBI sacrifice fly in the third inning brought the Scots within 2-1, but Walters kept the visitors off the scoreboard for the remainder of the game.
The Polar Bears added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth after freshman Ashley Lenser (Brookville) led off with a single and senior Lauren Renner (Columbus/Hilliard Bradley) added a one-out single.
Freshman Taylor Hilty (Kettering/Fairmont) followed with an RBI single, and Renner later scored on a Wooster error that allowed senior Rachel Hish (Gainesville, Va./Patriot) to reach base safely.
Griffin capped the scoring with a 2-RBI single that plated Elliott and junior Lauren Walls (Grove City) in the bottom of the sixth.
Wooster pitcher Daphne Pate held the ONU offense in check in Game 2, allowing seven hits while walking none and striking out two as she outdueled Northern sophomore Alex Daum (Wapakoneta).
Daum allowed seven hits while walking none and striking out four.
Hish paced the ONU offense with three hits to go with two from senior Hannah Rubel (Swanton/Notre Dame).
Renner and junior Sydney Motylinski (Ida, Mich.) each had one RBI.
Wooster put together a two-run second inning, but the Polar Bears tied the score in the bottom of the fourth after Hish, Griffin and Rubel led off with three straight singles to load the bases.
That was followed by back-to-back RBI groundouts from Renner and Motylinski before Pate was able to get out of the jam.
The Scots scored what proved to be the winning runs in the top of the fifth inning on an RBI double from Katie Agatucci and an RBI single from Kaydee Clark.
Both teams finished with a combined 15 hits over the two contests.
The Polar Bears return to action on Friday as they host an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader against John Carroll at 3 p.m.
