Scots Close the Season on the Road at OWU, Muskingum

Maria Gonzalez

Aiming to end an eight-game losing skid, The College of Wooster will cap its 2007 season this week as the Fighting Scots take to the road for a pair of doubleheaders. On Monday, April 30, Wooster will conclude North Coast Athletic Conference play at Ohio Wesleyan University (12-16, 3-9 NCAC) at 3:30 p.m. Both teams enter the doubleheader tied for sixth-place in the conference and neither will be able to qualify for the four-team NCAC Tournament. The twinbill was originally scheduled for April 28, but postponed twice due to unplayable field conditions. Ohio Wesleyan and the Scots split a pair last season, with the Battling Bishops earning a run-rule decision (15-5) and then Wooster rebounding for a 7-5 victory to take a one-game lead in the all-time series (9-8). The very next afternoon, Tuesday, May 1, the Scots will be back in action, traveling to perennial national power Muskingum College (29-9), ranked No. 9 in the latest NCAA Div. III coaches’ poll,  for a 3:30 p.m. twinbill. The Muskies have won all six previous meetings with Wooster, including 5-1 and 12-0 last spring.

    Last Week: The Scots were swept in a non-conference doubleheader in their lone action of the week, falling to 10-24 overall on the season.
    On April 24, host Case Western Reserve University clubbed 12 hits in the first game and added 10 more in the second, downing Wooster 10-1 and 8-4. In game one, the Spartans plated two runs in each of the second and third innings, and put it away with a six-run fourth en route to run-ruling the Scots. Wooster scored its only run in the contest when Natalie Jawyn (Akron, Ohio / Archbishop Hoban) drew a bases-loaded walk in the fourth inning, bringing home Kim Skully (Brooklyn Hts., Ohio / Cuyahoga Heights) who had led off the frame with a single. Skully’s single and an earlier base knock by Jawyn were the Scots’ lone hits of the contest. Wooster’s pitcher was Andrea Kelley (Westerville, Ohio / Westerville South), who suffered some bad luck with six of Case’s 10 runs being unearned. Kelley struck out two without a walk.
    The nightcap was much closer. After the hosts jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead after one inning, the score remained that way until the top of the fifth when the Scots pulled within one. With two outs that frame, Maria Gonzalez (Millersburg, Ohio / West Holmes) doubled, and following an error, Priscilla Staples (Stoughton, Mass. / Fontbonne Academy) doubled in Gonzalez to make it 2-1. The Spartans, though, put six runs on the board in the sixth to break the game wide open (8-1). Gonzalez paced Wooster, going 2-for-3 with her other hit being a two-run triple in the seventh. Katie Pifer (Meadville, Pa. / Meadville Area) was a tough-luck loser in the circle, as only two of the eight runs that came in were earned. She had two strikeouts.