Memphis, TN – The Oberlin College softball team opened the 2022 season by earning a doubleheader sweep of Greenville University on the campus of Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. The Yeowomen took game one in walk-off fashion 3-2 and followed with a 9-1 6-inning thumping of the Panthers.
The Yeowomen out-hit the Panthers 22-9 on the day as
Lalli Lopez,
Anna Slebonick,
Haley Bartsch,
Loren Carter, and
Cat Moruzzi each had three hits in the twin bill.
It was the first-year Carter who delivered the game-one heroics in the bottom of the seventh as she slapped a two-out RBI single through the left side that pushed Bartsch across for the game-winning run after she led off the frame with an infield single. The play was setup by Bartsch's hustle earlier in the inning as she went first-to-third on
Mia Brito's sac bunt that left her just 60 feet away.
Bartsch scored the Yeowomen's first run of the game in the home half of the third as she led off with single before swiping second base and later scoring on a squeeze bunt by
Vianca Dagnino.
Oberlin sophomore hurler
Katie Austin cruised through the front three innings but the Panthers would touch her up for two runs on four hits in the fourth. However, the San Diego, California, native responded by striking out Morgan Wendling with the bases loaded to end the inning and avoid any further damage.
The Yeowomen would get right back to even at 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth as Moruzzi roped an RBI double to the gap in left center to plate Slebonick.
Austin would then sit down the Panthers in order in the fifth and pitch around a hit batter in the sixth and a single in the seventh to set the table for the walk-off win. Austin (1-0) went the distance inside the circle and was effectively wild throughout her 106 pitches of work as she walked two, hit four, and sprinkled six hits to go along with two punchouts.
In the nightcap the Yeowomen belted out 14 hits as they used the momentum from game one to jump all over the Panthers.
Oberlin plated a pair of runs in the top of the second as
Kathryn Beeman led off with a double and Austin, who came in to pinch run, would then score on a groundout by
Kyra Davis.
Alaina Di Dio who got the start on the rubber helped her own cause by driving in Lopez with an opposite field single to right field to stake Oberlin to a 2-0 lead.
The Yeowmen would break the game open with a five-run fourth, taking advantage of five hits and two Greenville errors to grab a 7-0 advantage. Moruzzi's backside single scored first-year
Jess Friedman before Brito delivered a clutch two-run single down the left line that sent Moruzzi and Slebonick across the dish. Later in the frame, Davis would notch her second RBI of the contest with a single to left that scored Brito.
Greenville would scratch across a single tally in the bottom of the fourth, but Oberlin would tack on two more in the sixth on Di Dio's two-run single to leave no doubt in the eventual outcome.
In addition to going 2-for-4 with three RBIs at the plate, Di Dio (1-0) was equally as impressive on the rubber as she allowed just three hits and did not issue a walk while fanning two in the complete-game victory.
The Yeowomen have a short turnaround as they will battle Rhodes tomorrow in a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. ET.
