Oberlin softball continued their trend of coming close in games against good conference teams this week, but they also continued their trend of falling short in each one.

This week their not-so-magic number was six, as the women had six chances to obtain their first conference victory of the season. However, six proved to be not enough, as the Yeowomen weren’t able to pull any of them out.
Playing those six games in a span of just four days, the ladies lost two games at home to Wooster and Wittenberg over the weekend, and two more at Ohio Wesleyan University on Tuesday. The weekend games provided just one close call for the women, while the second game of the doubleheader on Tuesday was the team’s best shot at victory.
With Head Coach Jane Wildman employing a little strategy on Tuesday, the Yeowomen used three different pitchers in game one — in an attempt to save their ace, senior Dawn Sweeny, for a game two match-up against Ohio Wesleyan’s number two starter. According to Wildman, Wesleyan’s number one starter is one of the best in the league, and the idea was to try to get at least one victory on the day by having a decisive pitching advantage in game number two.

Game one’s results were therefore more or less expected. Ohio Wesleyan won the game 9-0 behind a seven-run fourth inning that saw ten different women come to the plate. Despite hitting Ohio Wesleyan University’s star pitcher hard, the Yeowomen only scrounged up two hits in the game as Ohio Wesleyan made the key plays in the field.

The strategy of pitching the ace against their number two almost paid off in the second game of the afternoon. After scoring a run in each of the first two innings, the Yeowomen were out to a 2-1 advantage. Their runs had come off RBI singles from Sweeny and senior Emily Johnson respectively, and they took the lead into the bottom of the third.
With two out in the third, a costly error by Oberlin allowed an Ohio Wesleyan runner to reach second. The next batter promptly came up and drove her in, tying the score at two a piece. Wesleyan put another runner on, but Sweeny induced a fly out to end the threat, leaving runners stranded on second and third.

The score remained tied going into the sixth, neither team able to do much against good pitching from both clubs. Ohio Wesleyan, however, broke that tie in the bottom of the sixth with a one-out double down the left field line, taking a 3-2 lead that they would not give up. Oberlin had a chance in the top of the seventh with a runner on third and two outs, but couldn’t come up with the big hit, lining out to end the game.

“We hit the ball well, they just made great plays,” Wildman said of Oberlin’s lack of offense after the second inning. “They were good solid hits, that’s all we can ask for.”

“We were solid all game,” senior Becky Kanuch added, “What’s been getting us all season is that one inning where we make errors, and then we just can’t recover.”

Sweeny pitched another marvelous game for the Yeowomen, going six innings, and giving up only two earned runs on six hits. This performance came off a pair of weekend doubleheaders in which she had great outings in each of the first games she pitched before tiring or being replaced in the second.

On Saturday in a 5-0 defeat by Wooster, Sweeny also only allowed two earned runs on six hits while the offense was sluggish against a tough Wooster pitcher.

In the one close game over the weekend, Sweeny pitched a true gem. In the first game of the team’s Sunday doubleheader, she went the distance, allowing only one earned run and just giving up two hits, while striking out four. Sweeny also had a hit at the plate and scored the team’s only run of the game, as they lost the opener of the Wittenberg doubleheader 2-1.

The nightcaps proved to be much less kind to the Yeowomen, who were beaten 13-7 on Saturday, and 7-3 on Sunday. Emily Johnson knocked in two runs on Saturday, while Kanuch went three-for-four on Sunday to lead the team at the plate.
The six losses this week dropped the Yeowomen’s overall record to 3-18, and 0-12 in NCAC play. Oberlin, which has no chance to make the postseason, played their final home games on Thursday against non-conference opponent Notre Damne College of Ohio, and will close their season with a doubleheader this weekend at Denison University on Saturday.
Despite their rough record, Wildman noted that opposing teams have been surprised at Oberlin’s competitiveness in games this year, and she believes that the team is playing “better than anyone expected.”

“We’re right there, and they know that,” Wildman said.