SANDUSKY, Ohio – Ashland University's softball team had to play a home doubleheader an hour away from home on Friday (April 30), and the results at Sports Force Parks against Wayne State were a 5-4 come-from-behind victory and a 12-5 loss.
The Eagles, halfway through their 16-game homestand, are 12-22 overall and 9-15 in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, while the Warriors are 18-14, 11-13.
Wayne State scored the first three runs of Game 1 in the top of the third, without getting a hit. Three Eagle errors and a wild pitch gave WSU the 3-0 advantage.
Ashland, however, didn't waste time in responding, scoring three times in the bottom of the third on back-to-back RBI triples from freshman catcher
Jordyn Severns and sophomore designated player
Kayla Ruperto, then a two-out run-scoring single by freshman pitcher
Jillian Middleton.
Wayne State regained the lead with a run in the top of the fourth, and score remained 4-3 until the bottom of the sixth, when Ruperto drove in the tying run with a single. That set up sophomore left fielder
Kaitlyn Carney's heroics in the bottom of the seventh, as her two-out RBI single to center field gave the Eagles their ninth win of 2021 when trailing through the fourth inning or later.
Ruperto was 3-for-4 with two RBIs, and Middleton, junior first baseman
Alexis Lavdis and Severns each had two hits. Middleton (4-10) earned the victory, scattering five hits, four runs (one earned) and one walk while striking out four.
In Game 2, the Warriors went out in front again, scoring once in the top of the first. Ashland kept working the two-out magic, however, as sophomore third baseman
Hailey Struckman's RBI single in the bottom of the first knotted the game at 1.
Back-and-forth the contest went, and Wayne State in the top of the second went on to score five runs to take a 6-1 lead. Sophomore designated player
Josie Duncan brought AU closer at 6-3 with a two-run triple in the bottom of the fourth, senior right fielder
Alli Hylton followed with a run-scoring three-bagger of her own to make it a 6-4 game, then Ruperto's RBI single cut the deficit to 6-5 after four.
Wayne State's two runs in the top of the fifth increased its lead to three at 8-5, then the Warriors added four insurance runs in the top of the seventh.
Ruperto was 2-for-4 with an RBI in the nightcap. Duncan (4-7) yielded six hits, six runs (five earned) and a walk and struck out one in 2 1/3 innings.
Ashland will return to Brookside Park on Sunday (May 2) at noon for another GLIAC twinbill, this one vs. Parkside.
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