By Tim Glon
Sophomore Kelly Sheridan drilled a 2-run home run to lead Ohio Northern to an Ohio Athletic Conference softball double header split at Baldwin Wallace Sunday afternoon at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds Field.
The Polar Bears (9-11 overall, 8-6 OAC) won the opener 11-6 and the Yellow Jackets (19-15, 4-8) won the nightcap 9-0.
Sheridan's 2-run home run in the top of the first staked ONU to a quick 2-0 lead in Game 1.
BW grabbed a 3-2 lead with single runs in the second, third and fourth innings, but Northern answered with a 4-run fifth frame.
Sophomore Jamie Westenkirchner had a three-run double and senior Michelle Sweet followed with an RBI double to give ONU a 6-3 lead.
In the sixth inning, freshman Amanda Lahti had a RBI ground our and junior Colleen Baliga had a 2-run double as the Polar Bears extended their lead to 9-2.
After BW pulled within 9-6 with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, junior Carly McKenzie and Sheridan had back-to-back sacrifice flies to make it an 11-6 game.
Senior Abbey Bensing improved to 5-4 on the mound with a complete-game victory.
Junior Christin Miller, Baliga and freshman Anne Dreher each had two hits to lead the ONU offense.
In Game 2, The Yellow Jackets got two home runs and a 1-hit shutout from Tabitha Murray to earn the split.
The Polar Bears will return to action Tuesday with an OAC twin-bill at Capital.