Lourdes returned to the road for the first time since March 21 on Wednesday afternoon, and dropped both ends of a doubleheader to Northwestern Ohio 4-2 and 6-1 at Racer Field in Lima, Ohio.
 
With game one scoreless through four innings, Northwestern Ohio took the lead in the bottom of the fifth on a double, a wild pitch, and a groundout.  Lourdes immediately responded in the sixth.  Jimi McNew (Monroe, Mich./Monroe H.S.) led off with a single, advanced on a groundout, and scored on an error.
 
The Racers scored what proved to the game-winning runs in the sixth, plating three, all with two outs.  Kelly Merkle hit a two-run home run and Joey Brinegar added a RBI double.
 
Marissa Kostick (Saint Charles, Mich./Saint Charles H.S.) led off the seventh with a single and Olivia Stanton (Loveland, Ohio/Loveland H.S.) followed with a run-scoring double.  That would be the last run Lourdes would score though.
 
Heather Sanderson went the distance in the circle for the win (13-7) for the Racers, allowing one earned run and five hits while striking out three.  Brooke Gallaher (Oregon, Ohio/Clay H.S.) suffered the loss (3-5), surrendering four runs on seven hits while fanning five in 5.2 innings.
 
In game two, Northwestern Ohio (22-19, 4-6 WHAC) scored single runs in each of the first three innings, taking advantage of Lourdes errors in the first two frames.  A home run by Oliviah Banister (Wauseon, Ohio/Wauseon H.S.), her second round-tripper of the season, in the third inning, accounted for the lone Gray Wolf run.
 
The Racers added a run in the firth before Kayla Ward had a two-run, pinch-hit double in the sixth for the game's final margin.
 
Aubrey Brunst surrendered just the one run and four total hits in the complete game win (8-10) in the circle while Kostick suffered the loss (2-5), allowing four earned runs and eight hits while also going the distance.
 
Lourdes (7-17, 1-7) will remain on the road Friday, traveling to Ann Arbor, Mich. to battle Michigan-Dearborn.  First pitch in the doubleheader is set for 2 p.m. at Alumni Field.