WOOSTER, Ohio (April 22, 2023) – Playing in its first North Coast Athletic Conference doubleheader on the road this season, the Denison University softball team lost 6-2 in game one after giving up a pair of two-out, two-run home runs in the second inning and then fell 7-4 in game two after a four-run bottom of the sixth inning for the College of Wooster on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

In all, Denison was held to 10 hits on the day while committing a combined seven errors and giving up five unearned runs in each game.
 
Game 1 (Denison 2, Wooster 6):

• After a throwing error by the Denison catcher led to the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning, Wooster took advantage of what was in all a three-error inning by the Big Red and came up clutch with a pair of two-out, two-run home runs to make it 5-0.
• Back-to-back one-out doubles made it 6-0 Fighting Scots in the fourth inning before Denison finally got on the board with back-to-back two-out RBI-doubles to left field by Brooke Surbaugh and Indy Workman.
• Then in the seventh inning, Denison drew back-to-back walks by Maggie Ballentine and Jacqui Abogado to put two runners on with just one out, but a groundout to third base followed by a called strike three left two runners in scoring position to end the game.

 
Game 2 (Denison 4, Wooster 7):

• After a rain delay to start game two, Wooster's Stephanie Griffin-Sanchez led off with a single to shortstop, stole second base, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the first inning.
• Fortunately, Surbaugh got a swinging strikeout followed by a flyout to center field to strand a runner on third base, and then got a foul out to shortstop and a groundout to third base to stand another runner in scoring position in the second inning.
• That helped keep it a one-run game until the third inning when Denison loaded the bases with nobody out thanks to back-to-back singles by Ballentine and Jordyn Maurer before a hit by pitch by Macie Harkovich. However, the Big Red were only able to get one run out of it as with one out, a sacrifice fly to center field by Workman was deep enough to score Maurer and tie it at 1-1.
• Denison then took a 3-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning after a pair of doubles to left field by Alessandra Groome and Erika Gustafson, but Wooster was able to tie it back up in the bottom half with runs on back-to-back wild pitches.
• The Big Red took the lead again in the fifth inning as a two-out RBI-single to left field by Clara Wolff scored Workman to make it 4-3.
• However, the deciding inning was a four-run bottom of the sixth for the Fighting Scots that saw only two hits but again featured three errors by the Big Red defense. After a leadoff double, the first run came across on a throwing error from third base, and then after a sacrifice bunt moved the go-ahead run to third base with one out, a fielding error by the shortstop allowed that run to score. The final two runs came after another wild pitch moved two runners into scoring position with two outs, setting up a two-run double to left center field to make it a three-run ballgame.
• In the top of the seventh, Denison got a one-out double down the left field line from Workman, but that was all the Big Red could muster in the final inning.

 
Records:

• Denison fell to .500 overall (13-13) and is now 5-3 in the NCAC while Wooster improved to 18-14 and 6-4.

 
Next Up: Denison will remain on the road to play at Kenyon College on Sunday, April 23, beginning at 1 p.m.