ATHENS, Ohio ? For the final home series of the year, the Bobcats welcomed back one of their own as Akron?s first-year head coach Julie White, a former Bobcat player and assistant coach, relied heavily on the arm of Tina McCauley to carry the Zips to a doubleheader sweep Saturday, 5-1 and 2-1.

In the first game, the Bobcats (18-34, 4-14) could only muster one hit against McCauley (17-16), Jenny Tisevich?s fourth home run of the season. In four innings of relief in the second game, McCauley held the Bobcat offense to one hit, as errors and miscommunication on the base paths plagued the Bobcats once again.

?Tina McCauley threw two beautiful games,? said Ohio Head Coach Roanna Brazier. ?I mean that is the bottom line. She threw excellent against us; couldn?t ask for a better performance from Tina. To keep us at two hits all day; I mean that is incredible with as good as hitters as we have. Kudos to her. On the flipside of course, we struggled and didn?t make our adjustments.?

The Zips (23-24, 7-12) started the first game playing small ball against Michelle Sauter (6-1). After Sara Zilles hit a single up the middle, she advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Rebecca Stern. Kerry Omerza followed with another single up the middle, driving in Zilles to give the Zips the lead for good in the game.

In a sign of things to come, McCauley came out on fire, striking out the side in the first, which would be three of her 11 strikeouts for the first game. She would get more run support in the second as Carrese Moody, with two outs, singled to third base and then stole second to get in scoring position for Zilles. Singling up the middle for the second straight at-bat, Zilles brought in Moody to give the Zips a 2-0 lead.

The one offensive highlight for the Bobcats came in the bottom of the second as Jenny Tisevich battled McCauley hard before hitting a deep home run over center field that kept on traveling to inch the Bobcats closer. Unfortunately for the Bobcats, however, this would be the last hit of the game against McCauley.

Candy Warden came on in relief for Sauter in the third inning and gave up a lead-off single to Kerry Omerza but would quickly get out of the jam. Warden faced trouble again in the fifth after walking Zilles. With one out after Kate Quigley?s single, Jaclyn Spirtos doubled to left field, driving in Zilles and increasing the lead to 3-1.

In the seventh, Natalie Armstrong came in for Warden and began the inning by mishandling a ball that would allow Zilles to reach base. After reaching second on a fielder?s choice, Zilles would score for the third time in the game as Omerza hit her second home run of the season, increasing the lead to 5-1.

?Besides the last few runs that they got in the first game, we are actually lucky that they didn?t score more runs with as many hits as they got,? said Head Coach Brazier. ?They were hitting the ball well; we played good defense that first game.?

The closest the Bobcats would get to home again would be in the third as Davis walked and stole second. McCauley walked Tisevich in the seventh, but even though the Bobcats got into many deep pitch counts on the day, they couldn?t break through on the Akron hurler, dropping the first game, 5-1.

In the second game, the Zips tried to get on board first as Zilles lead off with a walk against Zoe Heim. However, in a running miscue with Rebecca Stern at the plate, she left the bag too early and was called out by the umpire. Stern followed with a walk, but was thrown out by Davis attempting to steal second.

?Zoe did excellent,? said Brazier. ?She came in that first inning, walked a couple of people, not really sure of the umpire?s zone, and then after that, boom, boom, boom. She did a great job making her adjustments.?

The Bobcats took the lead in the third as Kelly Rodriguez led off the inning with a double. She would advance to third on a sacrifice bunt from Maureen McKelvey. Pinch hitting for Debbie Szalejko, Cathy Walters drove in Rodriguez with a single to right field to give the Bobcats their only run of the second game. Szalejko came back in the game for Walters, but she was caught stealing on a throw by Spirtos.

In the fifth, the Zips applied pressure on Heim with a single by Katrina Moffett and a sacrifice bunt by Stephanie Conrad. An error by McKelvey put runners at the corners with two outs, but Heim got out of a squeeze by striking out Becky Santonastaso to end the inning.

McCauley came in relief in the bottom of the fifth inning for Megan MacKenzie and would try to keep the Bobcats lead to only one run.

It wasn?t until the sixth where the Zips would tie the game at one as Stern doubled to right center, advanced to third on a groundout and then scored on a wild pitch by Heim. Quigley followed with a double to right center, but Kerri Harley (1-7) came in relief to end the inning by inducing Spirtos to fly out to left.

Akron had a chance to win the game in the seventh as Molly Steinbeck reached first base on an error by McKelvey with two outs. Lindsay Vittorio, pinch hitting for Moody, walked, but Zilles flew out to left to end the threat.

Going into extra innings, Akron took the lead quickly in the eighth with Stern singling through the right side and advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Omerza. Armstrong came in relief and got a ground out from Quigley, which did allow Stern to reach third. Another error, allowing Spirtos to reach base and keep the inning going, would be the undoing for the Bobcats as Stern scored from third to give the Zips a 2-1 lead.

Trying to earn her second win of the game, McCauley created trouble for herself in the home half of the eighth, walking Rodriguez and then committing a throwing error, which put runners at first and third with zero outs. McKelvey followed with a stolen base, putting two runners in scoring position and a chance for Szalejko to win the game. However, Szalejko hit a grounder to third baseman Omerza who caught Rodriguez in a rundown between third and home to record the first out of the inning. McKelvey tried to advance to third on the play, but with Rodriguez holding at third, she was forced to retreat to second. As McKelvey returned to the base, Rodriguez attempted to score but was thrown out.

?That last play was not our base runner?s fault,? said Brazier. ?Actually, it was my fault. What happened is everyone thought the squeeze was on, but I wanted my runner at third to hold. That was my fault; that was not our base runners at all.?

With runners at first and second and one out, Waters flied out to shallow center and Davis hit into a game-ending fielders choice, allowing the Zips to win both games of the doubleheader.

?One play here or there, the second game we could have won,? said Brazier. ?Now we are going to become the spoiler. We can play relaxed, and we can play the game we love. Now we go beat up on somebody so they can?t make the tournament.?

The Bobcats will finish up the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. in the final home game of the season. The team will also be saying goodbye to Kelly Barnhart, Kerri Harley, Jennifer Hodson, and Tisevich as they play their final game as a Bobcat in Athens.