The Ripon College softball team rallied for a victory in game one and then rode great pitching to a win in game two to sweep a Midwest Conference doubleheader from Lawrence University on Wednesday at Whiting Field.
Ripon (14-9, 2-0 MWC) scored six times in the final two innings to win the opener 6-2 and took a 1-0 victory in the nightcap.
In the opener, Ripon got a two-run homer from Cassie Bilotto in the top of the sixth to tie the score at 2-2. The Red Hawks then scored four times on six hits in the seventh to seal the victory.
Lawrence (6-17, 0-4) had taken a 2-0 lead in the second when Brielle Bartes and Cory Paquette both delivered run-scoring singles. That was all Lawrence would get against Ripon starter Stephanie Rieuwpassa, who went the distance. She struck out six and didn’t walk a batter.
Five Ripon players had two hits apiece, including Bilotto, who drove in four runs.
The nightcap was a pitchers’ duel between Lawrence’s Shannon Murray and Ripon’s Ashley Gnacinski. Murray went the distance and allowed only five hits while striking out five and walking none. Gnacinski pitched five innings and allowed two hits and one walk to get the win. Rieuwpassa pitched perfect sixth and seventh innings to get the save.
The only run of the game came in the top of the fourth. Murray threw only three pitches to get the first two outs of the inning, but Bilotto came up with a two-out single. Beth Ebben followed with a single, and Gnacinski singled up the middle to score Bilotto and give Ripon a 1-0 lead.