Ben Blotner
Senior Sports Writer
The Fighting Scots softball team swept the Allegheny College Gators in a doubleheader on Wednesday, April 17 at Galpin Park. Wooster took the first game 4-2 behind a strong pitching performance from Olivia Johnson ’21 before Marina Roski ’20’s walk-off single gave the team a 5-4 comeback victory in the following contest.
“Our team is spunky,” Kendall Lloyd ’20 said of the Scots, who have won 14 of their last 15 games. “We have a passion that will drive us and always seems to surprise our opponents.”
Molly Likins ’22 got the scoring started in the opener with a solo blast to left field, putting Wooster on top 1-0 in the second. The Scots scored another run in the fourth in unusual fashion on a double play. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Roski hit what would have been a sacrifice fly to center, but Likins was thrown out at third on the play. Grace Randall ’22, who had led off with a single, nonetheless scored to make it 2-0 Wooster.
Allegheny, however, did not go down without a fight. Joplin Osgood ’22 drew a walk with one out in the fifth. After advancing to third on two groundouts, Osgood scored on an RBI double by Kelly Lafferty ’21. Lafferty then came home on Samantha Valera ’20’s single to knot the score at 2-2.
After allowing the tying runs, Johnson responded at the plate, immediately untying the score with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth. Later in the inning, Likins picked up her second RBI of the day on a bases-loaded groundout, giving Wooster its two-run lead right back. That would be the final margin, as the Scots came out on top 4-2. Johnson came within an out of going the distance on the mound, working six and 2/3 solid innings for her 12th win. Marissa Norgrove ’21 came on in relief and recorded the final out for her first save of the year.
The second game was an even more closely contested battle, as the teams went back and forth with their scoring late. Wooster once again took the early lead, this time on Lloyd’s RBI single in the first inning. The hit scored Emmalee Cooke ’21, who had singled and stolen second. Cooke was involved in the Scots’ following two runs as well, scoring on Likins’ single in the third and driving in Brooke Swain ’22 with her third hit of the day in the fourth. Behind Norgrove’s pitching, Wooster led 3-0 heading into the fifth.
Once again, the Gators fought back. Lafferty came through with a run-scoring single in the fifth before Jessica Valerino ’19’s single cut the lead to one going into the final frame. Valera drew a one-out walk, and with Allegheny down to its final out, Kyleigh Cason ’21 delivered an RBI double to even the score at three. Hayley Behr ’21 then gave Allegheny its first lead of the day with another double. The Gators led 4-3 with three outs remaining.
The Scots would not go away. Cooke continued to spark the offense, this time with a leadoff walk. Lloyd then sacrificed her to second, later expressing the confidence she felt in that moment. “I had total faith, when I moved her over to second base, that someone else could easily get her in, and that’s exactly what happened,” Lloyd said. “We all have great abilities and are able to pick each other up when someone may be down.” The next batter, Randall, came up with a clutch RBI double to retie the game at four.
After an infield single by Likins off the pitcher’s glove put a second runner aboard, Roski stepped to the plate with a chance to deliver a walk-off victory. She did exactly that, singling to right-center and bringing home Randall with the winning run. The pair of wins continued Wooster’s hot streak and brought the team’s record to 22-10 on the season.
The Fighting Scots softball team will soon be in action on Saturday, April 27, playing a doubleheader at Ohio Wesleyan University.