ALLIANCE, Ohio – Mount Union's softball team swept Capital in a doubleheader to open Ohio Athletic Conference play on Sunday afternoon, winning game one 8-0 in five innings and taking game two 10-2 in six innings.
The Purple Raiders (10-4, 2-0 OAC) would strike first in game one when freshman
Addy Antonetz (Zanesville / West Muskingum) hit an RBI single that scored senior
Sydney Mercer (Salem / West Branch) to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Mount Union would then add to their lead in the following inning when senior
Kaitlyn Culver (Girard) scored following an error by the Capital third baseman, then senior
Lydia Brunner (Minerva) would score following a throw down to second base to stretch the lead to three runs.
The Raiders would add four more runs in the third inning, the first two coming off a two-RBI double from freshman
Alli Hodgkinson (Akron / Manchester) and then Culver hit a two-run homerun to right center to make the lead 7-0. Mount Union would add an eighth and final run in the bottom half of the fourth when Antonetz hit a solo homerun to left center.
The Comets (7-7, 0-2 OAC) wouldn't have an answer in the fifth as the Raiders would go on to win game one 8-0 in five innings.
Senior
Kendyll Cahill (Groveport / Groveport Madison) got the start in the circle for Mount Union and gave up zero runs and zero hits, striking out one in three innings of work. Sophomore
Emma Reemsnyder (Canton / GlenOak) and junior
Haleigh McCalla (Youngstown / Springfield Local) would come in to throw the final two innings in relief and held Capital hitless to complete the combined no hitter.
Capital would strike first in game two when Kyleigh Kirby hit a two-run homerun in the top half of the first inning. The Raiders would answer with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the same inning, the first run coming after senior
Faith Reicosky (North Canton / Hoover) scored off a Cahill RBI double and then Cahill scored off a Hodgkinson RBI single, tying the game at two runs apiece.
Mount Union would then claim the lead in the fourth inning when Brunner had a sacrifice bunt RBI that scored Culver to take a 3-2 lead. The Raiders would add another run in the fifth inning after another Cahill RBI double scored Antonetz to stretch the lead to two runs.
Then, in the sixth inning the Raiders would blow the game open with a six-run inning, scoring off RBIs from sophomore
Allison Jones (Berlin Center / Western Reserve) and Hodgkinson and home runs from Mercer and Antonetz as they would go on to win 10-2.
Cahill would once again get the start in the circle for Mount Union and would throw all six innings, giving up just two runs on four hits and striking out three.
The Raiders are home again next when they host non-conference opponent Penn State Behrend on Tuesday, March 24 in a doubleheader with games beginning at 3 and 5 p.m. in Alliance.
