Wayne State’s softball team hit the road Thursday for the first of six games in four days, splitting a doubleheader at Washburn. They lost the opener 6-4 but took the nightcap 5-4 in nine innings in action at Washburn, Kan.
In the first game, three errors proved to be the the difference as the Ichabods scored three unearned runs off Wildcat miscues.
Back-to-back doubles by Morgan Hoeg and Lexie Loos and a two-run homer by Emily Chandler staked the Wildcats to a 3-2 lead in the third inning. Washburn got a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning off losing pitcher Shelby Wobken and held on to take the first game.
Melanie Alyea and Alyssa Schropp both went 2-for-3 and Loos added two hits to lead a 12-hit effort. Chandler’s homer was her seventh of the season.
In the nightcap, the two teams forged a 3-3 tie after extra innings, but Hoeg’s single to left in the ninth scored Sam O’Brien with the tie-breaking run. They added another when Chandler singled home Caitlin Fehringer, and the Ichabods left the tying run at second as the Wildcats were able to salvage the split.
Chandler had three hits and Loos, Hoeg and Katelyn Wobken each had two. Cassie Miller got the win, allowing three hits and one unearned run in three innings of work.
The Wildcats are 22-19 overall and 16-4 in the NSIC. They play two key conference doubleheaders this weekend, traveling to Minnesota Duluth Saturday and St. Cloud State on Sunday. First pitch for both twinbills is 1 p.m.
