CLERMONT, Fla. – Despite falling behind in the first inning of both games, the University of Chicago softball team defeated Middlebury College 9-2 and rallied past University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh 5-4 on Friday. The Maroons are now 10-0 to start the season.

Game One – UChicago 9, Middlebury 2

Freshman infielder Anna Woolery got UChicago on the scoreboard in the first inning of the game. She reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly by senior outfielder Kaitlyn Carpenter. But Middlebury quickly responded with a two-run single in the bottom of the frame to go up 2-1.

Back-to-back bunt singles by sophomore outfielder Devan Parkison and Woolery started off the top of the third inning. Parkison came around to score on an error and senior third baseman Maddie McManus brought in Woolery with a sacrifice fly.

With the lead in hand, UChicago kept on scoring to give itself a cushion. The Maroons scored two runs on errors in the fourth and put up three more in the fifth. Freshman Maggie O'Hara stroked a triple and scored on a double by sophomore first baseman Kathleen Kohm. Sophomore shortstop Kristin Lopez tallied an RBI single, stole second base and scored on senior catcher Zoe Oliver-Grey's single.

Junior outfielder Raechel Cloud's RBI groundout in the seventh capped the scoring at 9-2. Lopez, Oliver-Grey and Parkison ended up with two hits each out of the 10 total UChicago hits. Lopez stole two bases as the team totaled five steals in the game.

The junior pitching duo of Tabbetha Bohac and Emily Ashbridge combined to allow only two hits over seven innings. Bohac improved her season record to 5-0 in six innings. She struck out two batters with one hit, two runs and five walks. Ashbridge closed out the seventh with one hit and one strikeout.

Game Two – UChicago 5, Wisconsin-Oshkosh 4

The Titans loaded the bases in the top of the first and scored on an error to grab a 1-0 lead. It took until the bottom of the fourth inning for the Maroons to come up with the equalizer. Woolery led off with a double and Carpenter drove her in with a single to right field. UChicago then loaded the bases with one out. O'Hara put the home team ahead 2-1 with an RBI sacrifice fly.

Wisconsin-Oshkosh took advantage of two errors in the fifth inning to put together a three-run inning against starting pitcher Jordan Poole. The Maroons went into the bottom of the sixth trailing 4-2 with only six outs to go.

Carpenter kicked off the rally with a leadoff double. McManus immediately followed with an RBI double to left field, and scored two batters later on Kohm's sacrifice fly. Wisconsin-Oshkosh committed two-straight errors to load the bases with one out. Senior Julia Covello came in as a pinch hitter and brought in the go-ahead run with a fielder's choice.

Poole finished off the game in the seventh to improve to 5-0 in the pitching circle. She struck out a season-high eight batters and all four of her runs were unearned due to three UChicago errors. Poole gave up seven hits and walked one. The sophomore now has 34 strikeouts in 34 innings pitched.

As a team, the Maroons collected seven hits. Woolery, Carpenter and Poole all went 2-for-3 in the batter's box.

NEXT GAMES:

• Saturday, Mar. 29 (at Clermont, Fla.) – UChicago vs. Williams College, 9 AM (ET) / UChicago vs. Luther College, 11 AM (ET)