Tiffin, Ohio - April 14, 2010 - The Heidelberg University softball team, and second-year head coach Betsy Hada, dropped an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader to Ohio Northern University at Mayer Field, on the campus of Heidelberg. The no. 5 ranked Polar Bears posted a 6-2 win in game one and a 9-4 victory in the night cap.
Heidelberg was in search of its second sweep of a nationally ranked foe on the year, but fell just short to fall to 17-7 overall and 4-4 in the OAC. ONU improves to 25-1 overall and sit atop the league at 8-0. Ohio Northern has posted at least one shutout in each of its four league doubleheaders until they traveled to Tiffin today.
In game one, Ohio Northern scored in its first at bat, but the Berg responded with two in the bottom half of the first. Senior Andrea Gerdeman (Ottawa, Ohio / Ottawa-Glandorf) connected for a two RBI double to right center to put Heidelberg on top 2-1. Gerdeman knocked in the Moran twins, Bridget and Carrie (Lakewood, Ohio / Lakewood). Bridget led the inning off with a single and Carrie was safe on first on a fielder's choice.
The visitors went on to plate five runs over the next three innings to push its final margin of victory to four, 6-2.
Heidelberg finished with seven hits in the setback. Leading the way was Hannah Brumit (Stone Creek, Ohio / New Philadelphia) going 2-for-2 with a walk. Gerdeman followed Brumit at 2-for-3 with two runs batted in and a walk.
Suffering the loss on the mound was Dana Thoms (Amherst, Ohio / Firelands). Thoms threw a complete game and gave up 12 hits and six runs, four earned.
In game two, after two scoreless innings, Ohio Northern's bats came alive and recorded four runs off of four hits and a Heidelberg miscue.
Heidelberg erased the Polar Bear shutout in the fourth. Brumit reached the base paths on an ONU error and rounded to score off the bat of Megan Reinhart (Tiffin, Ohio / Hopewell-Loudon).
The Polar Bears returned in the next inning to add put three more runs on the board, off of four hits. Heidelberg was held scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, but returned the favor in the sixth. The Berg came back with three runs to pull within 7-4. Bessie Artino (Bellevue, Ohio / Bellevue) and Brumit opened the inning with singles to set the stage for an Ashley Stromack (LaGrange, Ohio / Keystone) RBI double to right center field. Two batters later, Brumit scored on a wild pitch and Paige Diers (New Richmond, Ohio / New Richmond) knocked in Heidelberg's third run with a single downt he left field line.
In its final at bat, ONU plated two insurance runs to extend the final score to 9-4.
For the game Heidelberg's hitters finished with 10 hits. Leading the way was Diers going 2-for-2 with an RBI. Also finishing with two hits was Kaitlyn Esordi (Brownstown, Mich. / Oscar A. Carlson) and Stromack.
Freshman Ali Sayre (Sylvania, Ohio / Sylvania-Northview) suffered the loss on the mound. She gave up 14 hits and had three strike outs to stand at 5-1 on the year.