NEW CONCORD, Ohio – The no. 12 nationally ranked Mount Union softball team swept Muskingum to clinch the Ohio Athletic Conference Regular Season Championship and the no. 1 seed in next week's OAC Tournament, winning game one 9-1 in five innings and winning game two 6-0. This marks the third time in the last four seasons that the Raiders have won the OAC Regular Season Championship.
The Fighting Muskies (29-9, 12-4 OAC) struck first in game one when Bethany Rodman hit an RBI single to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
The Purple Raiders (29-5, 15-1 OAC) would answer in the following inning, scoring four runs, freshman
Alli Hodgkinson (Akron / Manchester) got the inning started after scoring on a wild pitch, then senior
Kaitlyn Culver (Girard) hit an RBI double that scored freshman
Grace Bates (Mount Vernon). Senior
Lydia Brunner (Minerva) would follow that up with an RBI single to score Culver and senior
Sydney Mercer (Salem / West Branch) hit an RBI single to bring in Brunner to wrap up the inning and give Mount Union a 4-1 lead.
The Raiders would add to their lead in the top half of the third inning when Brunner hit a sacrifice fly RBI that scored Hodgkinson to extend the lead to four runs. Mount Union would add two more in the fourth when Hodgkinson hit a two-run home run, the first of her career, to push the lead to 7-1. The Raiders would add two more in the fifth inning, scoring off an RBI triple from sophomore
Allison Jones (Berlin Center / Western Reserve) and an RBI double from Mercer to push the lead to eight runs.
Muskingum wouldn't have an answer in the bottom of the fifth inning as the Raiders would go on to take game one 9-1 in five innings.
Senior
Kendyll Cahill (Groveport / Groveport Madison) got the start in the circle for Mount Union and threw a complete game, giving up just one run on four hits and striking out four. The win marked the 80
th of Cahill's career, which broke the school record for career wins, a record that had stood since 2008.
The Raiders would strike first in game two when freshman
Addy Antonetz (Zanesville / West Muskingum) hit an RBI single that scored senior Faith Reicoksy (North Canton / Hoover), then freshman
Isabella Thomas-Friend (Amherst / Marion L. Steele) hit an RBI single to score Antonetz and then Cahill stole home to take a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Mount Union would add to their lead in the second inning when Jones hit an RBI single that scored Culver to stretch the lead to four runs.
Then, in the fourth inning Jones hit an RBI triple that brought in Brunner to make the lead 5-0 before Culver scored in the sixth inning after an error from the Muskingum second baseman to stretch the lead to six runs.
The Muskies wouldn't have an answer in the final two innings as the Raiders would go on to take game two 6-0.
Sophomore
Emma Reemsnyder (Canton / GlenOak) got the start in the circle for Mount Union in game two and threw a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out five.
The Raiders clinched the no. 1 seed in next week's OAC Tournament and earned the right to host, so they will be back in action on Friday, May 8 against an opponent to be determined at 11 a.m. at the 23
rd Street Softball Field in Alliance.
