ONU Defeats Heidelberg

Ohio Northern University’s bats refused to lay silent as the Polar Bears topped the Heidelberg College softball team in an Ohio Athletic Conference doubleheader. ONU run-ruled the Berg in five innings both games, taking the first 17-0 and the second 13-5. Heidelberg drops to 2-14 on the year, 0-4 in the OAC, while the Polar Bears stand at 12-6 overall, 3-1 in OAC action.

In the first game, ONU took the lead with a seven-run second inning and kept on scoring until the fifth. Centerfielder Amanda Fought and rightfielder Tina Mangola each hit two homeruns for the Polar Bears. For Heidelberg, second baseman Dessiree Burtch (Prospect, Ohio / Elgin) and centerfielder Jennifer Kerman (Willowick, Ohio / Regina) posted the only two hits of the game.

In the second game, the Berg restrained ONU to only three runs until the third when the Polar Bears lit the scoreboard up with eight crossing the plate. Heidelberg answered back with two runs of its own, but still had a nine-run deficit to overcome. The Polar Bears scored one more in the top of the fourth, while Heidelberg attempted to comeback thanks to a walk-off homerun by Crystal Killoran (South Euclid, Ohio / Brush) at the start of the bottom of the inning. Eight and nine hitters Kerman and Kella Lange (Medina, Ohio / Medina) both crossed the plate during the inning to cut Ohio Northern’s lead to seven. However, a sacrifice fly by Mangola in the fifth let Lynda Thomas score and Heidelberg lost after failing to respond in the second half of the inning.

Ashley Foust (Aurora, Ohio / Aurora) went 2-for-3 with one run batted in during the second game for the Berg. Price and Andrea Gerdeman (Ottawa, Ohio / Ottawa-Glandorf) each hit a double to add to Killoran’s homer as the only extra base hits for the team on the day.

Overall, first baseman Gerdeman and catcher Katie Curry (Delaware, Ohio / Buckeye Valley) led Heidelberg with seven put outs, while Foust contributed six assists. Katie Allenspach (Aurora, Ohio / Aurora) took the loss for the Berg in the first game, while Nicole Bachman (Elkhart, Ind. / Elkhart Memorial) was on the mound for the second.

Heidelberg hits the field again tomorrow, April 3, to play Defiance College in a non-conference doubleheader.