Posted April 18, 2006
By: Sam McCarthy, Assistant Sports Information Director
Crusaders Shutout Yellow Jackets; Fall In Extra Frames in Nightcap
Capital 4, Baldwin-Wallace 0 [Box Score]
Baldwin-Wallace 5, Capital 4 (8 innings) [Box Score]
(BEREA, Ohio)-- Capital University's softball team split their fourth Ohio Athletic Conference series of the season today, shutting out Baldwin-Wallace College 4-0 in game one before dropping game two 5-4 in extra innings at Cuyahoga Fairgrounds Field in Berea, Ohio.

Capital's record is now 15-14-1 overall, 4-6 in OAC play, while Baldwin-Wallace has a similar mark of 14-13 an is 6-6 in the OAC.

Game one stayed scoreless through five full innings before a four-spot in the top of the sixth for Capital gave them the lead for good.

Senior center fielder Mandy Sladoje (Lancaster/Lancaster) busted the game open in the sixth with a three-run homer for the Crusaders, her team-leading third of the year.

Junior Jen Heidenreich (Xenia/Xenia) went the distance for Capital, tossing seven innings and striking out 10, while only relinquishing four hits.

The Yellow Jackets got on the scoreboard first in game two, crossing the plate twice in the bottom of the first before Capital responded with a home run from sophomore pitcher Erin Willeke (Newark/Licking Valley) in the second.

Baldwin-Wallace scored two more in the fifth and Capital one in the sixth to make the score 4-2 going into a most unpredictable seventh inning.

After two groundouts to shortstop to start the inning, Yellow Jackets pitcher Jessica Shaffer, who hadn't walked a Crusader all game, surrendered three free passes to load the bases with two outs.

With Sladoje at the plate, Shaffer threw a wild pitch, allowing lead runner Brittany Cloud (Troy/Troy) to score and moved Lindsay Shepherd (Phillipsburg/Northmont) and Jackie Burris (Beach Park, Ill./Warren Township) to third and second respectively. Sladoje then singled, bringing home Shepherd to tie the game at 4.

Willeke tossed the first six innings of the game, but was relieved by Heidenreich who pitched a perfect bottom of the seventh, but took the loss in the eighth despite allowing only an unearned run.

With a win and a loss on the day, Heidenreich moves her record to 8-11 on the year.

Burris and Willeke each tallied two hits in game two and Willeke notched two RBIs.

Capital will turn around play two more OAC games tomorrow afternoon as they host Otterbein College at 1 p.m. at Clowson Field.