URBANA, Ohio (April 27) – The Wheeling Jesuit University softball team powered its way to a two-game sweep at Urbana Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals improve to 11-37 overall, 8-22 in the Mountain East Conference (MEC). Meanwhile, the Blue Knights drop to 2-26 in league play, 6-44 overall this season.
GAME ONE: Wheeling Jesuit 2, Urbana 1 (F/8)
The Cardinals rallied to tie the game in the sixth before winning in extra innings in game one.
Urbana opportunistically took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a wild pitch with two outs, but stranded runners on second and third.
The Cardinals got back-to-back doubles from senior
Molly Welsh (Bethel Park, Pa./OLSH) and
Alaina York (Lower Burrell, Pa./Burrell) to tie the game up at 1-1.
Both teams were retired in order in the seventh, sending the game into extra innings.
Senior
Taylor DiPerna (Coraopolis, Pa./OLSH) led the eighth inning off with a bunt-single and advanced to second on an errant throw. After a sacrifice bunt advanced her to third, DiPerna scored the eventual game-winning run when she advanced home in a run-down with runners on the corners.
The Blue Knights got a two-out single in the bottom of the inning, but senior pitcher
Erin Unterbrink (Raymond, Ohio/Marysville) got the next batter to fly out to end the game.
Unterbrink (3-7) went the distance and held Urbana to one run on four hits with four strikeouts in the win.
Welsh and junior
Brianna Grimes (Mason, Ohio/Mason) each finished with two hits to lead the offense.
GAME TWO: Wheeling Jesuit 13, Urbana 2 (F/5)
The Cardinals smacked 17 hits and scored in each of the first four innings of their run-rule shortened win to complete the sweep.
WJU pushed across four runs in the first inning on RBI hits by Grimes, DiPerna and junior
Crystal Carrillo (Los Angeles, Calif./Warren).
Urbana sliced the lead in half with two runs of its own in the bottom of the first, but the Cardinals kept the Blue Knights off the board for the remainder of the game.
Meanwhile, the WJU offense continued to add to its lead. Grimes brought home a run in the second, before a trio of RBI hits, including another by Grimes, made the score 9-2 in the third.
Wheeling Jesuit added its third four-run inning of the game in the fourth to put the game away and force a run-rule shortened game after five innings.
Six Cardinals finished with multiple hits, including Grimes who posted four hits, three RBI and one run scored to lead the team. DiPerna finished the game with two hits and three RBIs, while York and freshman
Kelsey Barron (La Salle, Mich./ St. Mary Catholic Central) posted identical three-hit, two-RBI lines.
Barron (6-15) earned the win in the circle after limiting Urbana to two runs on six hits with three strikeouts over five innings of work.
The Cardinals will conclude the season tomorrow, Sunday, April 28 when they travel to Glenville, West Virginia to take on UVa-Wise on a neutral-site field. The games were necessary to make-up due to MEC Tournament implications.
