On March 17, the Wittenberg Softball team played against Alma College. The double header was supposed to be the first of the season, but cold weather forced the game to be moved to Michigan. Wittenberg previously played against Alma College in 2016 in the NCAA regional tournament.
Wittenberg won the first game in the series by a score of 12-8. The Tigers had huge success batting, scoring 11 runs in only three innings. At that moment in the game, the score was 11-3. Alma fought back by hitting a three-run homer in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 11-6. The Tigers scored their last run from an RBI single that was hit by junior Abby Curnutte, who hit a deep home run in the second inning. Alma scored their last two runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
Senior Chelsea Zang recorded her second win of the year after pitching five and half innings, allowing seven hits and only giving up five runs. Freshmen Katelyn Niswonger came in to close out the game, giving up three hits and one run as the Tigers gutted out a big win on the road.
Game two saw both teams flexing their offensive powers. Both teams combined for a total of 17 runs in the second game, and 37 for the weekend series. Wittenberg first trailed 4-2 in the top of the sixth, finally tying the game up at four a piece after junior Missy Lee hit a double that scored freshmen Alex Gibson. Lee was able to score after sophomore Briana Gibson hit a single.
Alma answered back, taking a 6-4 lead in the bottom of the sixth after a two-run homer. Sophomore Cassidy Rowe and Curnutte hit back-to-back home runs to tie game again. Wittenberg scored twice in the eighth inning with an RBI triple by Lee and an RBI single by Alex Gibson. These RBI’s gave the Tigers the lead.
The game had to go into extra innings to determine a winner. Alma managed to tie the game up at 8-8 in the bottom of the eighth, before hitting the game winning run on an error in the bottom of the ninth. Senior Abby Haab and Chelsea Zang combined for 8 and half innings of work, allowing 12 hits and striking out seven, while giving up six runs.
The Tigers will prepare for an OAC challenge against Otterbein, as the Tigers travel to Westerville, Ohio to battle the Cardinals on Thursday, March 22 at 3:30 p.m.
