SYLVANIA, Ohio – The Lourdes softball team (8-11, 5-5 in WHAC) split a home doubleheader with (RV) Indiana Tech (26-12, 10-4 in WHAC) on Wednesday evening.

Lourdes lost the first game 1-6, but won the second game 6-4 to remain at .500 in the conference. The Gray Wolves stay put as the No. 8 seed in the WHAC Tournament and Indiana Tech remains in second place in the conference.

With the game two win, Lourdes increases their lead on Cleary to two games for the final spot in the WHAC Tournament. The Gray Wolves have a lot of room to rise in the standings as they have the most conference games remaining in the league.

Game #1: L, 1-6
Lourdes lost the first game by five runs as Indiana Tech's ace pitcher Savannah Bravo threw an incredible 95-pitch shutout. Bravo threw the first six innings with eight strikeouts and just one hit allowed.

Bravo was taken out for five pitches, when Lourdes' Taylor Leggins hit a solo home run in the seventh inning off of Mackenzie Arroyo. The Warriors replaced Arroyo immediately after the home run and Bravo closed the game out with two more strikeouts.

Cassi Kieper got the start on the mound for Lourdes and threw a solid 118-pitch complete game. Although she gave up six runs, only three of them were earned. With strong sun in the outfield, and big gusts of wind all day, three errors were made by Jessyca Smith, Taylor Leggins and Maddie Darrah that broke the game open for Indiana Tech.    

Game #2: W, 6-4
Lourdes bounced back in a dramatic way in the nightcap with a two-run win over the Warriors; breaking their three-game losing streak. Mallori Bradley got the start on the bump for Lourdes and was credited with her third victory of the season. Although she didn't come in the game until the seventh, Mallory Stinson got the loss for Indiana Tech.

Bradley won the battle of the Mallori's with a 95-pitch complete game. She gave up three earned runs on 11 hits allowed. Carlye Walter pitched the majority of the game for Indiana Tech, giving up five earned runs on six hits allowed in her start.

Indiana Tech once again started off the scoring with two runs in the first three innings. Taylor Leggins dropped a scoop at first base which caused the first run to cross home plate. The second run came via a gap double RBI by Melissa Cabrera.

Lourdes' freshman outfielder Cami Heath hit an RBI double in the left-centerfield gap in the third inning to cut the Indiana Tech lead to 2-1. Perhaps more importantly, Heath made three extremely difficult diving catches in the middle innings in centerfield to halt multiple Warriors' scoring threats. Heath talked postgame about her defense and moving from rightfield to centerfield for the nightcap. 

"Before I came to college, I always played center (field)," Heath said. "When I'm back in center, I feel like I have more range and that I'm able to lead the team out there. To read the ball, I really just like to know what the pitch is ahead of time. When you know the pitch, you're able to anticipate where the ball will go, especially if it's not hit properly. I feel like that helps me set myself up for success and angle myself better."

Indiana Tech got a big insurance run in the sixth inning off a two-out Morgan Macek RBI double. The scoring ended there after another catch by Heath kept Macek at second base.

Taylor Leggins and Skylar Mitchell hit back-to-back line drive singles to start off the bottom of the sixth. Lindsey McGann then worked an 11-pitch walk in her first at-bat of the game to load the bases. However, Liv Hickman hit an infield fly for the second out and the Gray Wolves were in jeopardy of leaving the inning with no runs.

With two outs and a 1-0 count, catcher Olivia Rompf roped a laser line drive single down the left field foul line to score pinch-runner Liv Hussar and Skylar Mitchell from second base. The clutch hit tied the game at three apiece, which is where the score would stay heading into the final frame.

The seventh inning was nothing short of dramatic. Indiana Tech led the inning off with a walk, which was immediately followed up by a single to put runners at first and second with no outs. Mae Griffore pinch-hit for the Warriors and laid a perfect bunt down the first base line. Olivia Rompf pounced on the bunt and threw a strike to Robyn Ryan at first base to get Griffore by half a step. Although she was out, Griffore's bunt still put two runners in scoring position with only one out.

The next batter was Allie Dolenc, who hit a smoking line drive to Ava Auler at third base. Auler caught the liner and immediately threw the ball to second base to try and double up the lead runner. Although the throw beat the runner, Robyn Ryan's foot was pulled off the bag and the runner was ruled safe. While there was confusion on the field as to whether the double play was completed, Indiana Tech's runner at third base, Carly Basham, came in to score to give the Warriors a 4-3 lead. Mallori Bradley got the last batter to pop out to end the inning with a one-run deficit.

Senior catcher Maddie Darrah led off the bottom of the seventh with a pinch-hit 10-pitch walk, immediately putting pressure on Carlye Walter. Lourdes' head coach Candace Fenton-Bockbrader talked postgame on the improved patient and intentional approach by the Lourdes offense in game two.
 
"Our players definitely did a good job adjusting from game one to game two," Coach Fenton-Bockbrader said. "We really wanted to see more of what the pitchers were working with. In the first game, we went with more of an aggressive strategy and we struggled. In game two, we started watching the zone a little better and capitalized on the pitches we wanted in order to have better hitting."

After Darrah's walk, Cami Heath laced a single to put two runners on. Heath leads the team's regular starters with a .394 average on the season. With Walter's pitch count climbing, Mallory Stinson was put in the game to try and close it out for Indiana Tech.

Stinson got Ava Auler to popout to first base, but wasn't so lucky with Taylor Leggins. The power-hitting first baseman launched a three-run walk-off home run deep over the leftfield fence. The moonshot landed on the high school's baseball field several feet behind the softball fence as the Gray Wolves crowd exploded with cheers.

The home run was Leggins' team-leading third of the season and gives her a team-high 15 RBI's on the year. Leggins talked postgame on the excitement of hitting the walkoff.

"The walk-off was a really great feeling," Leggins said. "I really wanted to be the one to do that for our team because we worked really hard during the game to come away with the win."

Next Up
Lourdes has two road doubleheaders this weekend against Cornerstone and Aquinas. The Gray Wolves are two games behind the Golden Eagles for sixth place in the conference. Lourdes also has a road doubleheader against Michigan-Dearborn next Wednesday and ends the season with a road doubleheader against WHAC-leading Madonna on Sunday, April 19. The last home series on Gray Wolf Field will take place under the lights at 5:30 pm on Saturday, April 18 against Northwestern Ohio.