Ashleigh Riffle's (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon H.S.) walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh of game one lifted Lourdes to a split of a doubleheader with Siena Heights on Wednesday at Gray Wolf Field. The Gray Wolves took the opener 3-2 before the Saints won the nightcap 7-4.
Game one was a pitcher's dual through five innings, with Lourdes'
Kirsten Smith (Marysville, Mich./Marysville H.S.) allowing just one hit while Kesey Uhl yielded three for the Saints to begin the contest.
A two-out error in the top of the sixth allowed Siena Heights to take the lead, scoring a pair of runs. Lourdes immediately answered in the bottom of the frame.
Annalisse Palma (Battle Creek, Mich./Lakeview H.S.) led off with a double while moving to third on an error.
Elizabeth Chagolla (Toledo, Ohio/Start H.S.) followed with a grounder to short, but the throw to the plate was wild allowing Palmas to score.
Brooke Albert (Edgewood, Ky./Dixie Heights H.S.) tied the game with a triple two batters later.
After
Milena Applegate (Jerome, Mich./Lumen Christi H.S.) came on in relief with two outs in the seventh, she needed just one pitch to get out of the inning while eventually earning the win (2-4) herself.
In the bottom of the seventh,
Megan Richardson (Napoleon, Ohio/Napoleon H.S.) led off with a single and moved to second on a wild pitch. A ground out moved her up 60 more feet with out one before Riffle's single to right-center won the game.
"That was a huge win for us today," head coach
Caitlin Blanchard said afterwards. "It was an all-around team win. We had several big plays on defense, Kirsten and Milena pitched a great game, and the bats came through in the second half when we needed them. Resiliency has been a big talking point for us this year, so I was really proud of us battling back to get the walk-off win."
Siena Heights (13-10, 2-4 WHAC) struck first in game two as well, scoring a pair of runs in the second. Lourdes answered with a single tally in the bottom of the inning as
Ashley Roth's (LaRue, Ohio/Elgin H.S.) groundout plated Riffle.
The Gray Wolves tied the game in the fourth as Richardson doubled home
Sophia Dauterman (Toledo, Ohio/Whiteford H.S.). The Saints broke the game open in the fifth, sending 11 batters to the plate while scoring five times on just three hits. Siena Heights took advantage of four walks and a strikeout in which the batter reached on a wild pitch to do the damage.
Lourdes fought back again, scoring two in the sixth. Dauterman had a RBI double, her third hit of the game, while Palma's RBI fielder's choice made it 7-4. The Gray Wolves stranded a pair of runners on base to end the threat.
"We continued to battle well at the plate during game two and spread runs across multiple innings," Blanchard added. "They had one big inning that was the difference maker. We didn't execute well during the second game on all sides of the ball and it reflected in the score."
Lourdes (6-11, 1-3) remains home on Thursday afternoon as the Gray Wolves host Indiana Tech at Gray Wolf Field. First pitch in game one is set for 3 p.m.
