April 10, 2011
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
ATHENS, Ohio - The Ohio University softball team posted a pair of wins over Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Division rival Akron on Sunday. The Bobcats won their second extra-inning contest in three games with a 3-2 decision in eight innings in the first game, and scored four runs in the fifth en route to a 6-3 win in the night cap.
Junior shortstop Alexis Joseph (Alvin, Texas) went 3-for-7 at the plate with two runs scored and an RBI. Freshman Raven King (Alpine, Utah) batted 3-for-4 with two walks in the twinbill, and senior pitcher/designated player Emily Wethington (New Palestine, Ind.) notched two wins over 10.2 innings pitched and struck out seven batters. After starting the first game, she pitched 2.2 innings of relief for classmate Melissa Bonner (Kings Mills, Ohio) who threw the first 4.1 innings of the second game.
After solo home runs tied the score at one a piece in the first game of the series, rain stopped play on Saturday. When the teams picked up on Sunday, Ohio (14-16, 3-3 MAC) claimed a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. King drove a leadoff double to right field. After two outs were recorded, freshman Erin Lashley (Pickerington, Ohio), who ran for King, came around to score on an RBI single by Joseph.
The Zips responded in the top of the sixth to even the score at 2-2, when Alissa Birkhimer used an RBI single to left center field to score Katie Gross. Birkhimer finished game one 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs.
After Akron (16-15, 2-4 MAC) left the bases loaded in the seventh, the game went to extra innings. In the eighth, Bonner drove a two-out double off the centerfield wall, and Wethington drove in the game-winning run with a single down the right field line.
Bonner worked out of trouble early in the second game. She loaded the bases in the first inning after hitting two batters and allowing a base hit with one out. Bonner responded by getting one of her team-high three strikeouts and a ground out to end the frame.
The Bobcats got on the board first for the third time in the last four games. Joseph and senior Paige Kemezis (Hackensack, N.J.) notched back-to-back doubles into the outfield gaps. Lashley scored her second run of the day in the fourth to build a 2-0 Ohio lead.
Akron plated three runs in the fifth after an RBI single up the middle by Birkhimer and a two-run double by Sarah Earley. After the Zips' half of the fifth, they held a 3-2 lead.
However, Ohio answered with four runs of its own in the bottom half of the frame to take the lead for good. The Bobcats sent nine batters to the plate in the inning and tallied six hits. Runs were scored on base hits by Bonner, Wethington and senior Jordan Paden (Walla Walla, Wash.). Bonner stole home to account for the fourth run.
Wethington retired eight of the nine batters she faced in 2.2 innings of relief, including the final seven consecutively. She threw 27 pitches and 23 strikes to earn her 11th win of the year.
The Bobcats return to MAC action on Friday, April 15 against the Huskies of Northern Illinois. The teams will meet in a doubleheader with game one scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. in DeKalb, Ill.
