Wooster, Ohio – The Oberlin College softball team put together a late-inning rally to get by the College of Wooster Fighting Scots in the nightcap by an 8-6 scoreline after drooping the lid-lifter 11-3 in five innings.
The Yeowomen pounded out 13 hits in the victory with senior
Cat Moruzzi leading the way with a perfect 3-for-3 performance to go along with a pair of walks as she reached base all five times.
Haley Bartsch and
Katie Austin each had a pair of hits in the win as well.
Oberlin was clinging to a 3-2 lead heading into the sixth inning where it would break the game open with five runs in the frame.
Mia Brito got the rally rolling with a run-scoring single to left center and
Lalli Lopez followed with a backside RBI single to right center that scored Moruzzi.
After a Wooster pitching change, the offensive onslaught continued as three consecutive singles off the bats of Austin,
Alaina Di Dio, and
Vianca Dagnino resulted in two more runs coming across to increase the Oberlin lead to six.
Those runs proved to be important as Wooster didn't go away quietly, scoring a pair of runs in the home half of the sixth before adding two more in the seventh as they brought the tying run to the plate but Oberlin was able to hang on.
A two-run single by Austin in the third gave Oberlin the early advantage but the Scots would even the count in the bottom of the inning. However, the Yeowomen would reclaim the lead in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to Brito and would never trail again.
Jess Friedman (2-2) worked the front four innings inside the circle, earning the win after she sprinkled eight hits and three walks to accompany a pair of strikeouts, but she was only tagged for two runs. Fellow rookie
Calliope Lissak worked the final three innings to secure her first-career save.
In game one, the Scots took a 3-0 lead after two innings of play, but the Yeowomen would cut the deficit down to just one with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Bartsch roped a run-scoring triple down the left field line that scored Friedman after she led off the inning with a single. Brito would later double to the gap in right center that sent Bartsch across the dish.
Unfortunately, the Scots would get those two runs right back in the bottom of the inning to claim a 5-2 lead. A Moruzzi RBI double to centerfield in the fifth put some pressure back on the Scots, but Wooster would leave no doubt in the outcome by erupting for six runs in the bottom of the fifth to implement the mercy rule.
Austin tossed 4.1 innings, allowing 11 runs on eight hits and three walks to go along with three strikeouts.
Bartsch had two of Oberlin's six hits and scored two if its three runs.
Oberlin will return home to close out the 2022 season on Saturday against Wittenberg University. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
