WHEELING, W.Va. (March 14) - The Wheeling Jesuit University softball team dropped a pair of non-conference games to Ashland Thursday evening at the JB Chambers Complex. The Eagles took game one 15-4, before grinding out a 2-0 win with a pair of seventh inning runs against the Cardinals in the nightcap.
Wheeling Jesuit falls to 3-11 overall, while Ashland improves to 13-5 this season.
GAME ONE: Ashland 15, Wheeling Jesuit 4
The Cardinals tallied four runs in the first inning, but a late surge by the Eagles lifted Ashland to the win.
After Ashland scored in the first inning, Wheeling Jesuit posted a four-spot on the scoreboard behind RBI base hits from both first baseman
Courtney Rogers (Hurricane, W.Va./Hurricane) and right fielder
Taylor DiPerna (Coraopolis, Pa./OLSH) to take a 4-1 lead.
The Eagles quickly responded with a four-run inning of their own in the second frame and added run-scoring innings in the fifth, sixth and seventh to pull away for the win.
DiPerna led the team with two hits and two RBI, while both Rogers and left fielder
Molly Welsh (Bethel Park, Pa./OLSH) added two hits in the loss.
GAME TWO: Ashland 2, Wheeling Jesuit 0
The Cardinals got a fantastic outing in the circle from pitcher
Madison Macy (Metamora, Mich./Lutheran Northwest), but were unable to provide any run support in a 2-0 loss.
Wheeling Jesuit looked poised to score in the first inning after a lead-off double by Welsh, but a sacrifice bunt and consecutive strikeouts ended the threat.
The Cardinals put runners on second and third in the third inning with a lead-off walk, hit batter, and a double-steal. Once again the Eagles escaped the jam to keep the game scoreless.
Macy was rolling along for the Cardinals to keep the Eagles off of the board. Ashland had a runner past second base only twice through the first six innings.
The Eagles pushed runners to second and third with two outs in the seventh inning and got a two-run double from their number-nine hitter in the lineup to take a 2-0 lead. Wheeling Jesuit led the bottom half of the seventh with a walk, but were unable to advance any further.
Macy (0-4) had the best outing of her young career in the loss. She limited Ashland to two runs on four hits with one strikeout in a complete-game effort.
Ashland pitcher Laney Jones (5-2) held the WJU offense to three hits with nine strikeouts in a complete-game shutout win for the Eagles.
The Cardinals open Mountain East Conference (MEC) play on Saturday, March 16 when they host Notre Dame (Ohio) for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.
