Lincoln Plews
Senior Sports Writer
The softball team took on Hiram College in a pair of close games this past Saturday, falling short 10-9 in the first game and then edging the Terriers 4-3 in the second game. The Scots now stand at 12-10 on the season, and 1-3 in North Coast Athletic Conference play.
The first game was all Wooster from the beginning, with the Scots knocking in five runs in the first inning. Four of those runs were scored off a grand slam from Jenn Horton ’13.
“After two tough loses against Allegheny, we really wanted to come back and have a big offensive day,” said catcher Paige Goldberg ’15. “We focused a lot on just putting the ball on the ground and forcing the other team to make plays against us.”
Wooster remained in control until the seventh inning, which began with the Scots leading 6-4. However, the Terriers came out swinging in the seventh, knocking in six runs and taking the lead 10-6 going into the bottom of the final inning.
Wooster nearly made up the difference, driving in three runs to bring the score to 10-9, but was stopped just shy of taking the game to extra innings.
The second game was quiet until the third inning. Hiram scored first, driving in three runs in the top of the inning, but the Scots responded with four runs of their own to take a 4-3 lead. This would prove to be the extent of the scoring in the game, and Wooster hung on to take the win.
At 1-3 in conference games, Wooster is now sitting in seventh place in the NCAC. Because only the top four teams get a chance to compete in the conference tournament in May, they must catch fourth place Allegheny at 4-2 in order to keep their season alive. However, with 12 conference games remaining, the Scots will have plenty of opportunities to close the gap.
“The team has gotten off to sort of a slow start in conference play so far, but based off of our performance in our preseason trip to Florida (in which the Scots went 9-7 against opponents from across the country) we definitely have the ability to beat any given team and make an appearance in the conference tournament,” said Goldberg.
Wooster played two games against archrival Wittenberg University on Wednesday after press time.
Starting tomorrow, the Scots will be on the road for the next three doubleheaders, taking on DePauw University tomorrow, Denison University on Tuesday and Baldwin Wallace University on April 18.