Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 John Carroll had started the 2018 campaign by losing its first five contests, but on a sun-splashed Tuesday in Kissimmee, Florida, the Blue Streaks showed their resilient side to win their first two games. Head coach Nicole Loudin told her team that day that they were starting to get a well deserved reputation for a team that will play hard to the final out.

Fast forward one month later, and in a much colder environment, that resiliency showed up again. Not once but twice did the Blue Streaks overcome multiple run deficits late in games to sweep crosstown and crosstown rival Baldwin Wallace Friday in Berea. It was the first time since 2007 that John Carroll had swept the Yellow Jackets on their own field.

JCU, which had started the campaign 0-5, has gone 9-3 since.

Game One - John Carroll 5, Baldwin Wallace 3

A scoreless pitching duel broke out in the early innings, but the homestanding Yellow Jackets dinged the scoreboard once in the fourth and twice in the fifth to build a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the sixth, the Blue Streaks bats awoke. With one out, Maggie Gannon began the rally by singling to left center. Caitlin Fitzsimmons then provided the spark that ignited the flame. For the first time in 2018, the sophomore delivered a home run to left center to pull within a single run at 3-2. JCU had just three hits in the first five innings but had already come through with two in the sixth.

The Blue Streaks were hardly content. Quinn Sobieszczanski walked and then got to second on a a wild pitch. Miranda Noday put pressure on the Baldwin Wallace defense, inducing a fielding error to keep the momentum going. With two down and two on and still trailing by one run, Lindsay McKnight blasted a double to score both Sobieszczanski and Noday and give John Carroll its first lead at 4-3. McKnight would later score on another defensive miscue.

With a 5-3 lead, Loudin turned to Elizabeth O'Grady to get the final six outs, and that is what the sophomore reliever did, allowing just two hits and no runs. 

Starter Jenn Patterson earned the win to improve to 4-5 on the season.

Game Two - John Carroll 9, Baldwin Wallace 7

A roller coaster ride broke out in the nightcap as John Carroll had a 4-0 lead and could not hold it, fell behind 7-5 late in the affair, and came up with late inning magic once again.

JCU picked up where it left off early on in the second game. After a scoreless first, the Blue Streaks would score four times in the top of the second. Sobieszczanski, Hannah Mizener and Lauren Ogurek all drove in runs to fuel a 4-0 lead.

With Jessica Cook on the mound, a four-run advantage seemed almost insurmountable. In 13 career starts prior to this one, Cook had allowed more than four runs just one time, and that was in her third career start back in 2017.

Proof that even the best can have an off day, Cook had an off day. With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the second, Baldwin Wallace managed to send five consecutive batters up to the plate who would reach base. When the dust settled at the end of two innings, the Yellow Jackets and Blue Streaks were tied at four.

Baldwin Wallace would chase Cook in the fourth inning. After JCU went ahead in the top of the fourth on a McKnight RBI double, the host team scored three times to take a 7-5 advantage in the bottom of the frame.

The score remained that way until the top of the sixth. Down to their final six outs, the Blue Streaks once again needed a spark, and it came from the catchers. In a pinch hitting role, Gannon led off the inning by getting hit by a pitch. After Elizabeth Fraas earned a two-out walk, coach Loudin put in pinch runners Olivia Schweiger (for Gannon) and Ogurek (for Fraas). Game two starting catcher Nikki Geringer then delivered an RBI single to make the score 7-6 by scoring Schweiger from second. Jennie Broski followed with an RBI hit to score Ogurek, tying the score at 7-7.

In the top of the seventh, the late inning two-out magic continued. With two out, Ogurek singled to center field, scoring Schweiger. Geringer again delivered with an RBI single, pushing McKnight across for a nice insurance run.

Patterson, who had come on in relief in the fourth, earned her second win of the day by not allowing a run in her 2 2/3 innings of work.

McKnight finished the doubleheader going 3-4 (.750) with two doubles, five RBI, two runs and five bases on balls. The two catchers, Gannon and Geringer, were a combined 4-8 (.500) with a double, a run scored and two RBI.