Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
For the first time since 2005, for the first time in Ada, and for just the third time ever, the John Carroll softball team completed a sweep of their heated rivals from Ohio Northern.
In the league opener for both squads, it was a furious rally in the second game that enabled John Carroll to make history in a series that has often gone a different direction. JCU wn by scores of 12-6 and 6-5, the latter of which took eight innings to finish.
John Carroll trailed in the opener, 2-1, after three innings, with the lone run coming off the bat of
Ashlee Unrue, who hit a solo home run in the third. The turning point was the fourth inning, when JCU plated four runs thanks to
Samantha Becker and
Mackenzie Griffin, each of whom drove across two tallies.
JCU also had a four-run sixth frame to blow the game open.
Unrue and
Colleen Brady had home runs for the Blue Streaks, whole Griffin went 4-4 with three RBI.
The nightcap seemed like it would be highly uneventful. Ohio Northern stormed to a 5-0 lead after four innings while the Blue Streaks had managed just three hits up to that point.
Then came the fifth inning. RBI hits by Becker, Griffin and Brady pulled John Carroll to within a single run at 5-4.
Still, it would come down to the Blue Streaks' final at bat. With two outs and a runner on second, Brady once again came through in the clutch, singling up the middle to score Griffin and tie the game at 5-5.
With freshman
Gina Tosti pitching scoreless relief from the fourth inning on, the Blue Streaks were able to win the game with one swing of the bat. That came courtsey of
Morgan Robinson, who led off the top of the eighth with a home run and a 6-5 lead.
Tosti, after allowing a lead off single in the bottom of the frame, set down the next three Polar Bears for her first collegiate win.
John Carroll is now 9-3 overall and 2-0 in the OAC, and has now rattled off nine consecutive victories. Ohio Northern, the defending league regular season champion, is now 1-7 overall and 0-2 in league play.
