Terre Haute, IN – The Oberlin College softball team concluded its four-game weekend, falling to Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology 16-6 and 9-4 on Sunday afternoon.
In the lid-lifter, the Yeowomen had an early 3-0 lead in the top part of the first inning and finished with 10 hits in the game. However, the Fighting Engineers belted out 17 hits and scored in each of their four offensive innings en route to the run-rule victory.
Game one started with three straight singles off the bats of
Haley Bartsch,
Cat Moruzzi, and
Loren Carter to load the bases. A wild pitch, a fielder's choice groundout by
Lalli Lopez, and steal of home plate by Lopez resulted in Oberlin scoring three runs.
Unfortunately, RHIT answered back with four runs in the first and a pair in the second to double up the Yeowomen 6-3 through two innings. It didn't get any better in the middle part of the game for Oberlin as the Fighting Engineers broke it open with four runs in the third and six in the fourth.
The Yeowomen would post three tallies of their own in the top part of the fourth as Moruzzi delivered a single that scored two runs before Carter followed with an RBI double.
Carter finished the game 3-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, while Bartsch and Moruzzi each added a pair of hits for Oberlin.
It was a much closer game in the nightcap as the two foes were knotted at 4-4 going into the bottom of sixth inning but RHIT secured the win with five runs in the frame to finish off the sweep.
Like in game one, Oberlin struck first, scoring a pair of runs in its first at-bat. Carter sent Moruzzi across the dish with an RBI double and would later score on a single by Lopez to make it a 2-0 OC advantage.
Rose-Hulman scratched across a single tally in the second but would take a 4-2 lead with a three-run fourth.
After both sides were blanked in the fifth, Oberlin evened the count in the top of the sixth as Carter led off with a double and would come around to score on another hit from Lopez. Pitcher
Katie Austin then helped her own cause by lifting a sac fly to center that plated pinch runner
Anna Slebonick.
Unfortunately, three of the first four RHIT hitters in the sixth would reach on a free pass as back-to-back hit-by-pitches and a walk loaded the bases with just one out to set the table for the five-run inning for the Engineers.
Austin worked 5.1 innings, allowing nine runs on 11 hits, five walks, and three hit batters as she fell to 2-3 on the year.
Carter, who has a hit in 17 of Oberlin's 19 games and had her 15-game hit streak halted yesterday at DePauw, added two more hits in the loss as did Moruzzi and Lopez.
The Yeowomen, who head back to Ohio at 6-12-1, will return to action on Wednesday afternoon at league rival Kenyon. The first pitch of the conference double-dip is set for 3:30 p.m.
