GRANVILLE, Ohio (March 24, 2022) – The Denison University softball team hosted its first two home games of the 2022 season on Thursday at the Denison Softball Field, and in the end, the Big Red battled to a doubleheader split against the No. 21 nationally-ranked team in NCAA Division III, Mount St. Joseph University. Denison lost game one 17-2 before bouncing back to win game number two by a final score of 5-4.
 
Game 1 (Denison 2, No. 21 Mount St. Joseph 17):

• A pair of two-out rallies for the Lions led to an RBI-double over the center fielder's head in the top of the second inning and a two-run home run to left field in the top of the third.
• Denison's only base runners through the first three innings came via a hit by pitch and a dropped third strike.
• Then in the top of the fourth inning, Mount St. Joseph brought up 11 batters and put up six unearned runs on six hits and three Big Red errors.
• Denison's first hit of the day was a leadoff single to center field by Sam Kline in the bottom of the fourth inning, which led to a two-out, two-run double to center field by Jessica Hopkins to get the Big Red on the scoreboard.
• In the top of the fifth inning, the Lions sent 14 batters to the dish and added eight runs on eight hits and three more errors.
• Only eight of the Lions' 17 runs in the game ended up being earned runs.

 
Game 2 (Denison 5, No. 21 Mount St. Joseph 4):

• Denison scored first with a solo home run to left field by Maggie Ballentine before a two-out solo home run to center by Mount St. Joseph's Elizabeth Ivers in the top of the second inning.
• In the top of the third inning, Sophia Parpala (2-0) got back-to-back swinging strikeouts to strand two runners in scoring position and keep the game tied at 1-1.
• Then in the bottom of the third inning, Claire Powell smashed a two-run home run to right center field to put Denison ahead for the second time in the game.
• In the top of the fourth, Ivers hit her second solo home run of the game to center field for the Lions, cutting Denison's lead in half at 3-2.
• In the bottom of the fifth inning, Annabelle Calderon came up with a huge two-out, two-run double off the fence in right field to give the Big Red some breathing room up 5-2.
• Mount St. Joseph threatened in the top of the seventh inning by getting to within one run and getting the tying run on base before a called strike three gave Parpala the complete game victory.
• Parpala would finish with a line of seven innings pitched allowing eight hits, four runs and three walks while striking out seven.
• Offensively, Powell, Kline and Calderon each had two hits for the Big Red while Ballentine scored twice.

 
Records:

• Denison's record moved to 5-8 while No. 21 Mount St. Joseph's moved to 12-5. Denison's win in game two was also the end of an eight-game winning streak for the Lions.

 
Next Up: Denison will play a doubleheader at Hanover College starting at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 26, before returning to Granville for three straight doubleheaders within a four-day span on their home field next week.