ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's softball team swept a pair of games in the Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournament on Friday afternoon, beating Muskingum 4-2 in their first game of the day and beat Baldwin Wallace 5-3 in their second game of the day.

The Purple Raiders (35-9, 14-4 OAC) struck first against Muskingum when senior Grace Heath (Beloit / West Branch) hit a solo homerun to left field in the top of the third to take a 1-0 lead.

The Fighting Muskies (27-14, 11-7 OAC) would answer in the bottom half of the inning, scoring off a sacrifice fly RBI from Sarah Piteo to tie the game at one. Mount Union would reclaim the lead in the sixth inning when freshman Faith Reicosky (North Canton / Hoover) hit an RBI single that scored freshman Lydia Brunner (Minerva) to take a 2-1 lead. The Raiders would add to their lead in the seventh inning, scoring off RBIs from freshmen Kendyll Cahill (Grove Port / Grove Port Madison) and Emily Denney (Poland / Poland Seminary) to increase the lead to 4-1.

Muskingum would cut into the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Haley Hawk hit an RBI single, but that's as close as they would get as the Raiders would go on to win 4-2.

Cahill got the start in the circle for Mount Union giving up just two runs on four hits and struck out four in the complete game win.

The Yellow Jackets (28-14, 12-6 OAC) struck first against the Raiders when Macaira Fox hit an RBI double in the top half of the third inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Raiders would come back to take the lead in the bottom half of the inning when freshman Sydney Mercer (Salem / West Branch) hit a three RBI single to take a 3-1 lead.

Baldwin Wallace would come back to tie the game in the top of the fifth inning, scoring off a two RBI double from Steph Mraz. Mount Union would reclaim the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Reicosky reached first on a throwing error by the Yellow Jacket third baseman and Heath scored and then Mercer hit a sacrifice fly to score Reicosky and make the lead 5-3.

The Yellow Jackets wouldn't be able to answer over the final two innings as the Raiders would go on to win 5-3 and force a winner take all game two in the OAC Championship series.

Freshman Brooklyn Schlabach (Apple Creek / Waynedale) made her first career start in the circle for Mount Union and gave up three runs on seven hits and struck out one in five innings of action to pick up her first career win. Cahill would come in to pitch the final two innings in relief and gave up zero runs on just two hits and struck out two to pick up her first career save.

The Raiders are back in action again tomorrow when they take on Baldwin Wallace in a winner take all game two of the OAC Championship Series at noon in Alliance.