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GRANVILLE, Ohio (May 4, 2024) – The Denison University softball team took advantage of its chance to take second place in the North Coast Athletic Conference standings with a sweep at home over first-place DePauw University on Saturday in its regular-season finale. The Big Red won 5-2 in game number one to hand DePauw its conference loss of the season before taking game two by a final score of 4-3.

Saturday's games marked Denison's third and fourth regular-season wins against DePauw in program history and the first since 2018, and represented its first-ever sweep against the Tigers.
 
Game 1 (Denison 5, DePauw 2):

• After DePauw scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice bunt and then made it 2-0 on a bunt single in the top of the third inning, Denison led off the bottom half of the third with three straight singles by Leilah Ferrari, Brianna Gonzalez and Indy Workman, the last of which scored Ferrari for the first run of the game by the Big Red.
• Workman then stole second base and drew an errant throw from the Tigers' catcher than ended up in center field and allowed Gonzalez to score from third base and tie the game.
• Then with one out, a single by Alessandra Groome hit the bag at second base and caromed into left field, allowing Workman to score from second base and give Denison the 3-2 lead.
• Brooke Surbaugh (9-6) followed with 1-2-3 fourth and fifth innings from the circle, but after an hour-plus weather delay with one out and two DePauw runners on base in the top of the sixth inning, Surbaugh's time in the circle was done.
• Surbaugh finished with a line of 5.1 innings pitched allowing three hits, two runs and five walks.
• Coming in to face the pressure situation was Madilyn Moffitt, who got back-to-back swinging strikeouts to end the sixth inning and preserve Denison's 3-2 lead.
• Surbaugh and Moffitt then combined for back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the sixth inning, and then after an important insurance run on an RBI-single by Ferrari, a wild pitch scored Moffitt to give the Big Red even more breathing room.
• Moffitt was able to finish things off in the top of the seventh inning after throwing out a runner on a bunt attempt for the final out of the game.
• It was Moffitt's sixth save of the season.
• Ferrari (2-for-3) was the only player from either team with more than one hit in game one, almost equaling DePauw's total as a team (3).

 
Game 2 (Denison 4, DePauw 3):

• After getting the win in game one, Surbaugh put her stamp on game two with a solo home run to left field to lead off the bottom of the second inning.
• Then after DePauw took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning, Denison answered with three straight RBI-hits in the bottom half on doubles by Groome and Annabelle Calderon and a single by Surbaugh to make it a 4-2 Big Red lead.
• It was the second game in a row DePauw took the lead in the top of the third inning only to see Denison answer in the bottom half and take the lead for good.
• Sydney Silverstein (10-3) followed with a 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning and did the same in the top of the sixth.
• In the top of the seventh inning, however, back-to-back singles to lead off the inning chased Silverstein and brought in Giavanna Gangi to try and close it out.
• After a sacrifice bunt to move the two runners into scoring position, and groundout back to Gangi for out number two scored a run to bring the Tigers to within one (4-3), but the final at bat finished with a flyout to Denison's lone senior, Clara Wolff, in right field to wrap up a great day for the Big Red.
• It was the first-career save for Gangi in what was just her fifth appearance of the season.
• Denison was outhit 7-5 in game two but got two hits apiece from Groome and Surbaugh, the latter of which was responsible for two of Denison's four RBI's in the game.

 
Records:

• Denison improves to 24-10 overall and 11-3 in the NCAC, and clinches sole possession of second place in the conference standings after Hiram College's 6-4 game-two loss at the College of Wooster also played on Saturday.
• 2024 represents the Big Red's first 20-win season since 2019 and ties its most wins in the regular season since winning 24 regular-season games in 2018.
• DePauw, which had won 16 games in a row entering the day on Saturday and recently captured its fifth straight and record ninth overall North Coast Athletic Conference title, drops to 24-13-1 overall and 12-2 in the NCAC.

 
Next Up: Denison will now head to DePauw for the NCAC Tournament, set for Thursday, May 9, and Friday, May 10.