RALEIGH, N.C. (February 26, 2022) – The Denison University softball team earned its first win of the 2022 season with a 9-4 victory over tournament host William Peace University in its first of three games during the final day of the Grand Slam Triangle Softball Classic. After taking down the Pacers in game one, the Big Red dropped game two 8-1 to Carnegie Mellon University before giving up three runs in the bottom of the sixth and falling 6-5 against Randolph-Macon College in the final game.
 
Game 1 (Denison 9, William Peace 4):

• In a game that featured 25 combined hits, the Big Red jumped out to a 7-0 lead after four innings.
• Caitlin Ellwanger had a sacrifice fly in the first inning and a double to right field in the third inning, both times scoring Claire Powell, and then had a three-run double to left center field in the top of the fourth inning.
• After finishing with three doubles and four RBI's during her first two collegiate games yesterday, Annabelle Calderon continued the hot start to her career with a two-run home run to score Ellwanger.
• In the top of the fifth inning, Maggie Ballentine came up with Denison's third RBI-double of the game to score Clara Wolff and Lexi Knipp and make it 9-2 Big Red.
• Elwanger finished with five RBI's in the game while she, Ballentine, Calderon and Jacqui Abogado each had two hits.
• Powell had two stolen bases and scored three times, all on RBI's by Ellwanger.
• Knipp (1-1) earned the win allowing four runs on 11 hits and three walks in six innings.

 
Game 2 (Denison 1, Carnegie Mellon 8):

• The Big Red scored first as Ballentine led off the game with a double down the left field line, advanced to third on a bunt single by Powell, and then wisely scored on the throw down to second base on Powell's steal attempt.
• It could have been a big inning as Ellwanger and Calderon followed with back-to-back singles to right field to put two more runners on base with only one out, but a foul out to third base followed by a fly out to center field ended the inning, and then Carnegie Mellon scored twice in the bottom of the first to take the lead for good.
• Then after Denison again left two runners on base in the top of the third inning, the Tartans added a solo home run in the bottom of the third, added two runs on a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth, and homered again to lead off a three-run fifth inning.
• Ballentine and Calderon both had two hits for the second game in a row while Powell also had two hits.

 
Game 3 (Denison 5, Randolph-Macon 6):

• Each time Denison scored in the top half of the inning, Randolph-Macon answered in the bottom half to either tie it or take the lead.
• After the first two Denison hitters of the game reached via errors and then Ellwanger singled to load the bases, Calderon got the Big Red on the board in the top of the first with her seventh RBI of the weekend on a single through the left side.
• Unfortunately, three straight strikeouts to end the inning left the bases loaded, and then in the bottom of the first, Randolph-Macon took a 2-1 lead.
• Denison grabbed the lead back in the top of the fourth as Sam Kline led off with a double and was brought home to tie the game with two outs on a ground-rule double by Powell, who then scored on a single up the middle by Ellwanger to put the Big Red back in front.
• After the Yellow Jackets tied it again in the bottom of the fourth, Denison took the only two-run lead of the game in the top of the sixth. Yet again, the Big Red could not hold on to the lead as Randolph-Macon took advantage of three Denison errors and scored three runs on just one hit, all with two outs, to force Denison to try and tie it in the top of the seventh, which they could not.
• Powell and Ellwanger were both 3-for-4 with two RBI's while Powell also scored twice.

 
Next up, the Big Red will return to Ohio to play at Marietta College in a doubleheader starting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 1.