AUBURNDALE, Fla. – Lewis University's softball extended its winning streak to a season-high eight straight games by defeating Northwood 1-0 and Ohio Dominican 4-1 on Tuesday at the Auburndale Softball Complex in Auburndale, Fla. The Flyers improve to 12-5 on the season.
Game 1 – Lewis 1 Northwood 0
Katie David (Mapleton, Ill./Illini Bluffs) drove in the only run of the game and helped our own cause with a solo home run to right with one out in the first it was David's first home run of the season.
David was perfect in the circle as she retired the first 11 hitters she faced before Julia Gross reached on a catcher's interference with two outs in the fourth. Sydni Culps broke up the no-hitter bid with a single to left. David responded striking out Grace Dutoi to end the inning.
David led off the inning with a double to left and went to third on a sacrifice bunt from
Morgan Weber (Sugar Grove, Ill./Kaneland) but would be left stranded at third.
The Timberwolves (8-6) got the tying run to second in the fifth inning with two outs but David got Lauren Catellon to pop up to
Sara Serena (Kankakee, Ill./Kankakee) to end the inning.
Lewis had a runner in scoring position in the sixth with one out, but
Cierra Taylor (Tinley Park, Ill./Andrew) was left stranded at second.
Northwood had the tying and go-ahead runs on base with two outs in the sixth, but David got Dutoi to groundout back to her to end the inning.
The Flyers were looking for insurance runs in the seventh but left two on base.
David walked the lead-off batter in the bottom of the seventh before retiring the next three to seal the victory.
Lewis outhit the Timberwolves 5-2 in the contest and was led by David with two while Taylor, Weber and
Meghan Bontrager (Milford, Ind./Northridge) had a hit apiece.
David pitched a complete game two-hit shutout with five strikeouts to win her fifth straight and improve to 7-2 on the season.
Game 2 – Lewis 4 Ohio Dominican 1
In their second game of the day the Flyers took advantage of three Panther (7-13) errors in the first inning to take the early lead.
ODU tied the game in the third on an error by
Kristin Kavalauskas (Oak Forest, Ill./Tinley Park) which scored Brooklyn Rayburn.
Lewis regained the lead in the fourth with two runs on three hits and an error.
Amy Bukovsky (Aurora, Ill./Montini Catholic) drove in the go-ahead run with a single down the right field line and then three pitches later Kavalauskas drove in Taylor with a hard-hit single to short that the shortstop couldn't handle.
The Flyers tacked on an insurance run in the fifth.
Elexis Swartzentruber (Normal, Ill./Normal Community) led off the inning reaching on an infield single to short.
Maggie Joutras (Shorewood, IL/Providence Catholic High School) came onto run for her and advanced to second when David reached on an error by the third baseman. Weber advanced both runners with a fly ball to right. Joutras scored on Bontrager's ground out to second.
Serena held the Panthers to just one base runner over the final two innings to preserve the victory.
Lewis finished with six hits in the contest with six different players recording a hit. Kavalauskas finished with two RBI in the contest.
Serena went the distance allowing an unearned run on four hits with three strikeouts but walked eight to pick up her fourth straight victory and improve to 5-2 on the season.
The Flyers wrap up their trip to Florida on Wednesday taking on Ferris State at 9 a.m. (CDT) and St. Cloud State at 11:15 a.m. (CDT).
