TIFFIN, Ohio – A strong pitching performance from
Megan Mlinaric in game one and a late rally spurred on by the hot bat from
Kyleigh Kirby helped propel the Capital University softball team to a sweep at Heidelberg University on Monday afternoon.
The Comets improved to 10-6 on the year and 5-3 in the OAC, while Heidelberg slipped to 9-19 overall and 2-6 in the OAC.
The doubleheader sweep for the Comets marked their first two game sweep over the Student Princes since March 23, 2013 – a series that also took place in Tiffin.
In game one, Capital's offense put together 10 hits, but could only muster two runs, thanks to an RBI single from
Autumn Bridges in the third inning and an RBI groundout from
Emma Gant in the fourth. Those two runs would hang on to be enough at the end of the game, thanks to a dynamite pitching performance from
Megan Mlinaric.
Mlinaric hurled her first career complete game shutout on just 93 pitches as she finished with 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB and 7 Ks in a near perfect outing.
On the offensive side of game one, Bridges led the team with three hits and she was supported by
McKenzie Kennedy and
Reagan Irons with two each and
Rory Littman,
Megan Parry and
Emma Gant with one each.
In the second game, Capital started in a hole after a throwing error yielded a few runs. Despite being behind 3-0, Cap took advantage of some Heidelberg throwing miscues as well to tie the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth inning.
Emma Gant dropped a squeeze bunt that ended up scoring
Rory Littman,
Larae Portis, and herself thanks to a pair of throwing errors by the Berg defense.
The Student Princes went back ahead by three in the bottom of the fifth at 6-3, but Capital responded in the top of the sixth with a flourish. In that frame, Bridges drew a bases loaded walk to score Gant, and then
Kyleigh Kirby delivered a bases clearing double to score Bridges,
Reagan Irons and
McKenzie Kennedy. The three-run play put Capital in front for the first time at 7-6.
One inning later, Capital added four much needed insurance runs to make the score 11-6. Those runs came courtesy of a two-RBI double from pinch hitter
Karri Albertini, an RBI triple from Kirby and an RBI single from
Emma Sweetman.
In the bottom half of the inning, Berg scored four of their own, but the game ended with Cap in front 11-10, securing the win in the Comets' favor.
The 13 hits offensively in game two came courtesy of Kirby (4),
Reese King (2),
Emma Gant (2), Sweetman, Littman, Kennedy, Irons and Albertini.
In the pitcher's circle,
Krislyn Bayles earned the fourth win of the season for her with a line score of 6.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R (3 ER), 1 BB and 1 K.
Jessica Workman picked up the other third of an inning in relief.
UP NEXT
Capital is scheduled to play at Wilmington on Wednesday, April 17th, but both programs will be monitoring the weather that day closely. Any updates will be posted to athletics.capital.edu if available.
