South Euclid, OH. – After picking up their first Mountain East Conference (MEC) sweep in over a year over the weekend, the Wheeling University Softball team (14-31, 7-23) wasted no time getting their second. They swept the Notre Dame Falcons on Friday evening, winning the first game 7-3 and following it up with an 8-4 win in game two. The offense was at it again, scoring 15 runs on the day with 11 of those coming in the first two innings of the games.

Game One: Wheeling 7, Notre Dame College 3

After getting the offense going late last time out, that momentum carried into the first game of Friday's doubleheader. After the first two batters in the top of the first were retired,  Taylor Hradek kept the inning alive reaching on an error to keep the inning alive. Brooke Slomkowski followed with Wheeling's first hit and Cassi Roman brought home the team's first run with an RBI single scoring Hradek and giving Wheeling a 1-0 lead. The Cardinals were playing with the lead before they even took the field, but the offense was far from done. Starting pitcher Randi Holder allowed one hit in the bottom of the first, but the Cardinals offense would break things open in the top of the second with a big six-run outburst.

Natalie Stoner and Kelsi Green hit back-to-back singles to start the inning, and each then stole second to put runners on second and third with nobody out. Autumn Oehlstrom followed it up with a big three-run home run to make it a 4-0 Wheeling lead as she hit her fourth home run of the season. Anna Florczak kept the party going with an RBI double to left and Gina Fogle followed it with a double that gave Wheeling a 5-0 advantage. Makie Paxson would add the innings sixth consecutive hit with an RBI double that made it 6-0 in favor of Wheeling. The Cardinals tacked on a seventh straight hit before a fielder's choice brought up the first out of the inning. Cassi Roman drove in the final run of the inning with an RBI single and after two and a half, the Cardinals were out to a resounding 7-0 lead.

That was the most run support that freshman Randi Holder had received all season and she took advantage of it. She ended up throwing the complete game effort on her way to picking up her third win of the season. Holder did deal with a lot f traffic on the base paths, allowing 13 hits, but was able to work through it allowing just three earned runs. She would walk two and strikeout three over her seven innings of work. She was tagged for two runs in the bottom of the second and allowed one more run in the third before shutting down the Falcon offense for four consecutive innings. The Cardinals didn't add on during that time, but they didn't have to thanks to their early outburst. The game ended on a high note as in the top of the seventh, Gina Fogle picked up her third hit of the day to collect her 100th hit of her collegiate career.l before the Cardinals closed out the 7-3 win.

Fogle led the way in the hits department, going 3-5 with a double and an RBI while Autumn Ohelstrom led the day on run production going 3-4 with a home run and three RBI. Cassi Roman added two RBI in the win and Makie Paxson drove in the games final run. The Cardinals looked to make it their second doubleheader sweep in as many weeks.

Game Two: Wheeling 8, Notre Dame 4

After a fast start in game one, the Cardinals were right back at it in game two when Taylor Hradek doubled to start the inning. She would steal third and then came home and Jenee Brodeur singled her home to give Wheeling a 1-0 lead. Brooke Slomkowski would single before the next two batters struck out for the first two outs of the inning. Autumn Oehlstrom would then step in and continued her big day with a two-RBI double to make it a 3-0 Wheeling lead. For the second straight game, Wheeling had the lead before they even took the field and starting pitcher Jamie Anderson responded with a scoreless bottom of the first. The Cardinals tacked on another run in the second as Anna Florczak would score on a passed ball to make it a 4-0 Cardinals lead.

Anderson had a good outing for the Cardinals, going three innings and allowing just one earned run on three hits while walking one and striking out two. Anderson has been a consistent presence in the circle late in the season, and had another solid start. She was relieved by Aubrie Lafferty, who finished the game strong throwing four innings allowing three runs, one earned, on seven hits while striking out five batters. Lafferty missed a few weeks of the season due to injury but has come back strong over these final two outings. The Cardinals offense just kept going, scoring runs in five of the seven innings and gave their pitchers more than enough support throughout the afternoon.

In the top of the third inning, Autumn Oehlstrom stepped up and hit her second home run of the day to make it a 5-0 Cardinals advantage. The top of the fourth saw the Cardinals hit another home run, this time from Anna Florczak and the Cardinals upped their lead to 6-1. Taylor Hradek singled to batters later and a fielder's choice put runners at first and second with one out. That brought Gina Fogle to the plate and she came through with an RBI single that brought home Hradek and made it a 7-1 game.  The Cardinals final run of the game came via Florczak, who hit her second home run of the game in the top of the sixth that made it an 8-3 Wheeling advantage. The Falcons pushed another run across in the bottom of the seventh, but Wheeling was able to hold on for the 8-4 win.

 Leading the way for the Cardinals in game two was Anna Florczak, who went 3-3 with two home runs, two runs scored, and two RBI. Autumn Oehlstrom continued her strong day, driving in three and finishing 3-4 with a home run and three RBI to give her a total of six RBI on the day.  Jenee Brodeur and Gina Fogle each drove in a run to end the Cardinals offensive day. With one more doubleheader on their schedule, Wheeling looks to keep it going as they try to head into the off-season with momentum on their side.

The Wheeling University Softball team returns to action on Saturday when they take on Alderson Broaddus at 1 PM. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.