ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's softball team clinches a spot in the Ohio Athletic Conference Tournament splitting a pair of games with Wilmington.

The Purple Raiders (18-21-1) last made the tournament in 2013 as they won it all with a 5-3 win over Capital. Mount Union will be the fourth seed in the OAC Tournament taking on first seeded Otterbein Friday, May 5 with time to be announced.

The Raiders had seven errors in game one which resulted in a 12-7 loss to the Fightin Quakers. Mount Union came back with a 14 hit game to get the 8-6 win over Wilmington in the second game.

In game one, the Fighting Quakers got the first run on the board with an RBI single. The Raiders answered with a big inning driving in five runs on six hits as junior Brittany Baitt (Painesville/Riverside) started it off with her second home run of the year to tie the game up.

Freshman Morgan Riley (Chareloi, Pa./Charleoi), senior Brooke Cox (Louisville/Louisville), senior Allie Scali (Parma/Parma) and junior Jessica Calhoun (Brunswick/Brunswick)  each hit single RBI's for the Raiders to get a 5-1 lead over Wilmington going into the second inning.

Wilmington drove in two more runs in the top of the second to then blow up the fourth inning with six runs to get their lead back, 9-5, over Mount Union. Another run for the Fighting Quakers pushed their lead up by five runs, 10-5, in the fifth.

The Fighting Quakers drove in two more runs in the sixth to lead the Raiders 12-5. Mount Union drove in two runs in the bottom of the seventh with single RBI's from Cox and Calhoun.

The Raiders were unable to keep the momentum taking the 12-7 loss.

On the mound, Scali allowed 12 runs on eight hits as she falls to 8-11 on the season.

In game two, Wilmington drove in the first run in the top of the first leading Mount Union 1-0.

With two scoreless innings, a triple by Cox in the bottom of the fourth and a single by Calhoun tied the game 1-1.

Junior Shelby Vansickle (Loudonville/Loudonville) hit her first career homerun as a two-run homer to put the Raiders up 3-1. Single RBI's from Baitt, Cox, Calhoun and freshman Emily Hume (Minerva/Minerva) put Mount Union up 7-1 at the end of the fourth.

A four run inning for Wilmington got them within two of Mount Union, 7-5, going into the bottom of the fifth.

A two-out homerun for Baitt, her second on the day, put the Raiders up 8-5 in the bottom of the fifth. Wilmington fought in the top of the seventh with one run, but Mount Union took the game 8-6.

In the circle, Hannah Reusser (Minerva/Minerva) improved her record to 11-7 as she allowed six runs on nine hits.