NORTH CANTON, Ohio - The Walsh Cavaliers softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with the Urbana Blue Knights at the Walsh Softball Complex on Wednesday (March 20) afternoon. 

The Cavaliers rallied for an 8-5 win in game one and dropped a slugfest in game two, 11-7.

GAME ONE

Urbana gained a quick 2-0 lead with two runs in the top of the first inning. Walsh immediately answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame. Jessie Rock and Brooke Six each plated a run with a RBI double as the game was tied. 

Alina Molette put the Cavaliers in the 3-2 lead with a RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Urbana responded with a two-run fifth inning, for a 4-3 Blue Knights advantage. 

A five-run bottom of the fifth fueled the Cavaliers in game one as they turned a one run deficit into a four-run lead. Taylor Yoder lined a two-run double to left center field before Katelyn Kennedy added a RBI single. Molette brought home a run on a fielder's choice and Katelyn Loughman had a RBI groundout. 

Urbana scored one run in the seventh but the Cavaliers hung on for an 8-5 win in game one.

Yoder had three hits while Rock had two hits as the Cavaliers totaled ten hits in the opener. 

Sara Gockenbach allowed four runs (three earned) in 6.1 innings pitched with seven strikeouts. 

GAME TWO

The Blue Knights started the game with a run in the first inning and six in the third inning for a 7-0 lead. 

Kennedy got the Cavaliers on the board with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, as the Cavaliers trailed 7-1. 

Urbana added four more runs in the fifth inning, leading 11-1 going to the bottom of the fifth. 

For the second straight game, a big inning brought the Cavaliers closer. In a six-run fifth, Walsh closed the gap to four, 11-7. Two errors led to two runs while Emma Bobey and Loughman each singled home one run. Six lined a two-run triple to left field in the frame.

The Cavaliers could not come any closer, falling in the nightcap 11-7. 

Bobey had three hits while Loughman and Alex Depue notched two hits each. 

Gockenbach went 2.2 innings of relief with no runs allowed on three hits. 

The Cavaliers will travel to Trevecca Nazarene on Friday (March 22) for a Great Midwest doubleheader. 

-WC-