Ashland University's softball team didn't get as far up the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings ladder as it could have on Thursday (April 14).
That's because the Eagles' five-game winning streak was slowed down by darkness, as AU and Tiffin couldn't finish Game 2 of Thursday's GLIAC doubleheader, having to suspend it after seven innings at a 3-3 tie.
In Game 1 at Tiffin, the Eagles took a 5-2 decision to improve to 20-16 overall and 10-5 in the conference – moving into a tie for fourth place in the league standings as a result. The Dragons are 20-12, 5-5.
Thursday's opener saw Ashland score in the top of the first inning on a sacrifice fly by senior pitcher Sarah Alley. That advantage was stretched to 3-0 in the third thanks to a run-scoring triple from senior first baseman Jen Moore and another Alley sac fly.
Tiffin inched closer with single runs in the third and fifth innings to make it a 3-2 contest, but Ashland pulled away with two more runs in the seventh on a two-run triple by sophomore third baseman Marissa Caraballo.
Two of AU's 12 hits were collected by junior center fielder Ally Farrah, senior left fielder Shelbie Prince, senior catcher Bri Buckley and junior second baseman Kalene Freshour.
Alley moved her record to 11-6 after a complete-game six-hitter. She struck out six, walked three and allowed two runs in improving to 7-1 in her last eight decisions.
Thursday's games began a stretch of 12 consecutive road games to end the Eagles' regular season. That stretch will continue on Saturday (April 16) at 1 p.m. at Lake Erie (12-18, 4-10).
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