One more out strike in the top of the seventh, one more hit in the bottom of seventh.

That was how close John Carroll came to competing a sweep against Capital in a Sunday afternoon twinbill at Bracken Field.

As it turned out, the two teams produced a split in their respective Ohio Athletic Conference openers. JCU won game one by a 10-6 count, while Capital took game two, 2-1.

Game One

Things could not have started worse for the Blue Streaks. Two bloop hits a bunt and then a home run plated four runs, and then Capital was able to push across another unearned run to build a 5-0 lead before JCU had a turn at bat.

But credit to Jess Cook, as she only allowed one run over her next four innings of work, which gave the offense time to find itself.

Kristen Jesberger got things rolling with a two-run double in the second.

Then came the third inning, where the Blue Streaks put up an eight-spot to turn a 5-2 deficit into a 10-5 lead. The big hits were turned in by by Jesberger (two-run single), Olivia Schweiger (game tying RBI single), Crista Nativio (bases loaded two-out three-run double) & Lindsay McKnight (two-run homer).

Capital would get one run the rest of the way as John Carroll won its OAC opener for the first time since 2013. Cook improved to 4-2 with the win.

The victory also marked the 100th career victory at John Carroll for head coach Nicole Loudin.

Game Two

A pitchers duel went the full seven innings between John Carroll's Jenn Patterson and Capital's Brianna Reardon.

The teams took a scoreless battle into the seventh inning. Capital had put two runners on with no outs, and Patterson -- who had stranded 11 Crusaders on the base paths through the first six innings -- looked to do it again in the seventh. She recorded strikeouts to get the first and second out, and then had two strikes on Hannah Martin, but would not escape this time. Martin hit a pitch to the fence that plated two runs to give Capital a 2-0 lead.

JCU attempted to answer back in the bottom of the seventh as McKnight hit a one-out solo home run (her third of the year and fifth of her career) to cut the deficit in half. 

With two outs, Emma Gurley singled and Quinn Sobieszczanski walked to bring Jesberger to the plate. She worked the count to 3-2 and fouled off several pitches before getting one she liked. She ripped a line drive to the right that was snagged by Maria Keller, the Capital second baseman, to end the game.

"They fought for 14 innings today," said Loudin. "I am very proud of what our pitchers did, just hard to come up one hit short."

JCU is now 9-5 overall and 1-1 in the OAC. Capital is 5-13 overall and 1-1 in the league.